Haralson Bag Progress

I worked on the Haralson bag yesterday afternoon and made quite a bit of progress. I’m following Jess’s tutorial on her Oklaroots YouTube channel. She does an excellent job with her videos—they are very thorough.

I’m at the halfway point, I think:

The exterior is black waxed canvas from Klum House—I have mixed feelings about this substrate. I like that it is a thinner fabric and closer weave than the waxed canvas I get from AL Frances Textiles on Etsy. The “wax,” however, is a proprietary blend of mineral oil and other vegan-friendly oils. It is oilier than beeswax and makes the canvas almost feel wet.

The interior is water-resistant canvas. I’m not so fond of this fabric. It frays if you look at it sideways and the feel of it is a bit harsh. I think I would prefer using bonded nylon fabric for the interior, but I’ll reserve judgment until the bag is finished.

I’m sewing most of this on the Juki 1541, which is an absolute pleasure. The only issue I have now with that machine is that when I adjusted the servo motor to slow down the machine, I somehow toggled the needle stop position to “up” instead of “down.” I had it set to stop with the needle down in the fabric. I am trying to decide if I want to mess with the servo motor settings again to change that or if I should just leave it.

I did the interior zipper insertion on the 880. Smooth.

I may have to shelve this project for a couple of days. I have a busy week ahead. This morning, I have a much-needed massage. I am trying to schedule one every couple of months. When I get home, I need to record and edit tomorrow’s podcast episode. We have a homestead foundation board meeting tonight. Tomorrow, I meet with our accountant. We have a standing appointment every August to evaluate how the year is going and what needs to be done before December 31. That has been so helpful in making sure we are paying the correct amount of estimated taxes every quarter so we have no surprises.

On Wednesday, I am taking a painting class from Sunnie. She is offering this as a fundraiser for the homestead foundation. Sunnie specializes in oil painting. We are going to paint “en plein air”—outdoors—at her studio up the road. I think there are half a dozen of us registered for the class and it should be great fun. I may or may not share the results. 😂 I think the last time I painted with oils, I was a freshman in high school in Miss Furey’s Art 101 class.

And, of course, there is the garden. The zucchini isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.