Sewing the Kanoko Bag

Finally!—We got some snow. I took this picture yesterday morning.

As of this morning, we’ve gotten a total of about 10" of snow. The husband spent much of yesterday moving it around. He was able to fix the Blazer, by the way. He described the repair to me as a “five-cent part,” but he was able to figure out where that five-cent part belonged, and that was the crucial part.

I started work on the Kanoko tote. I’ve said before that “potato chip” sewing has its place—when I need a top to wear to church on Sunday and can knock one out on Saturday afternoon—but there is much to be said for a project that takes several days. I started the Kanoko tote with no expectation of getting to a certain point, and that makes all the difference in these big projects. I am enjoying the journey.

If I end up using this pattern to recreate my travel tote, I will incorporate some modifications, but I am making this version according to the pattern. This is one side of the tote, which has a small slip pocket:

Those are my two favorite marking tools for waxed canvas. Robin got me that fabulous point turner, which does double duty as a Hera marker. The tracing wheel is great for transferring marks from the pattern pieces.

And this is the other side, which has a flap pocket and a zipper pocket. I completed the zipper pocket but had not yet sewn it to the bag:

That area on the left side of the flap where it looks like a pleat is a trick of the light.

I’m not crazy about these 3-D pockets; they were not easy to do in this stiff waxed canvas. I was sewing on the Necchi industrial. I probably should have gone out to sew them on the Juki 1541, but it’s in the garage and I didn’t feel like hiking back and forth through the snow.

[The best outside pockets I’ve ever seen on a bag were on Betz White’s Ravenwood Messenger Bag.]

If I could have the perfect canvas for bags, it would be a bit heavier than the Klum House waxed canvas but with the same beeswax finish as the AL Frances Textiles canvas. Klum House uses a proprietary vegan blend on their canvas which is based in mineral oil. The finish tends to be a lot “wetter” than the beeswax, but the weight of the fabric is easier to sew. When I start to get into multiple layers with this bag, I will have to use the Juki 1541.

My travel bag has a large (flat) zipper pocket on one side and a trolley sleeve on the other, and those are the features I will incorporate if I make another one.

That’s as far as I got with my sewing yesterday. I don’t know if I’ll work on the Kanoko tomorrow—today is a running-around day—or if I will take a slight detour and make a Wool and Wax Tote. I have enough of that gray canvas left for the base of a W/W Tote AND it just happens to coordinate beautifully with the wool fabric I used for the coat I made in October. I am itching to make a version of the tote using the wool for the body and the waxed canvas for the base. I may have to interface the wool, but I think it will work nicely. Anna often uses Pendleton wools in her bag designs.

While all of this was going on, DD#1 and her husband were flying back to Ketchikan (from Hawaii) and DD#2’s poor boyfriend was having an emergency appendectomy. As of last night, he was doing well, but I know that wasn’t on his bingo card for 2024. I spent much of the day listening to the scanner and getting Snoqualmie Pass alerts on my phone. Some people vastly overestimate their winter driving skills. The dash cam I ordered for the Jeep arrived yesterday, although I don’t know if I’ll be able to install it before I head to town this morning.