Lisa Lam - The Bag Making Bible: The Complete Guide to Sewing and Customizing Your Own Unique Bags

To a sweet and clever crafting friend if ever there was one, my sister Jenny. My supportive and encouraging family, Mum and Dad, Wendy and Haymond. My craft widower husband, who years ago prevented me from getting a real job and urged me to start up my own business. Alan, thank you darling!

Before I dig into the amazing details and inspirations behind Lisas book I need to tell you a little bit about my dear friend Lisa. We met through email introductions when I learned that she was carrying my patterns and fabrics on her beautiful U-Handbag site. I fell in love with her blog and creative voice immediately and felt extremely honored to have such a passionate and talented partner. I sent her a speedy note with best wishes and received an overwhelmingly warm note in return. We quickly connected and found tons of things in common in both our working creative worlds and personal life. You know what it feels like when youve met a kindred spirit, an old soul who clearly is blessed with multiple gifts and incredible warmth? Well thats Lisa. I remember when I asked if she lived anywhere close to London and if we could meet in person. I had an upcoming book signing at Libertys and she said sure, absolutely, no problemwhen in fact she had to travel fairly far and ended up spending the entire afternoon with me when she had oodles of bag orders waiting for her attention. Thats just the kind of gal she is.

You get 150% of Lisa all the time. Shes super smart and super talented and the best part is she makes herself available to everyone with her care, thoughtfulness wit and charm. Shes pretty darn funny too, sly and always effervescent. Now shed be the first person to scoff at my compliments, because shes very down to earth, but in this situation, I have the upper hand so shes just going to have to take all the praise! You need to understand these things about Lisa because thats how special this book is. True to form, Lisa gives so much of herself, her knowledge, experience, patience and limitless ideas for bag making truly a bible indeed. She leaves nothing to chance because of her passion for empowering other sewists. She wants everyone to succeed and be inspired.

My favorite thing about this book is it is a storehouse of information that gives you all the tools to be completely creative and successful with your own bag inventions. Lisa sets up the chapters focusing on specific techniques with excellent behind the scenes information that give you the low down on tools and materials and follows that with great support visuals with her clear step by step how to photos. Youll find that Lisas instructions are clear and visually very very easy to follow. The chapters conclude with inspiring images of stylish projects that apply the techniques first hand. So you get an amazing sewing education coupled with beautiful bags that of course, you can customize!

Were all so fortunate to get to know Lisa through her blog, web site and now her first book, which by all standards is one of the most comprehensive sewing books Ive ever read. This will be one of your favorite go to books for ideas, inspiration and incredible how to reference. Lisa has given us all the tools to have a great sewing experience that will grow and grow. Shes a special one!

Im a very lucky gal to know her and am so happy to be able to tell you a little bit about Lisa and her wonderful bag making book!

Happy Happy Sewing!

Amy Butler

amybutlerdesign.com

Below Lisas beautiful made up in home decor weight fabric from my Love collection. The fantastic design of the bag creates endless possibilities for use in your everyday life!

I love sewing. For me it is an indulgence, my work and a whole lot of fun. Inspired by my Mum, Ive been sewing since I was a little girl. I have happy memories of the cool 70s flares and flowery pinafores that she used to sew for her groovy-looking kids. Ive been unhealthily obsessed with fabric, haberdashery and sewing gadgets ever since. Im self-taught, I love to experiment and I (usually) laugh at my mistakes.

Of all the things that I run up on my trusty sewing machine, bags are the thing that I enjoy making the most. Every girl needs a bag (or ten) in her wardrobe and a handmade bag is the perfect present to give at any time of the year. You cant beat the pleasure you get from owning a truly unique bag and the smug feeling you get from telling your amazed friends, Oh, I made it!.

As this book will show you, you dont need to be a sewing whiz or to purchase exotic tools to make bags. Youll just need a sewing machine and some easy-to-obtain notions. While some of the bag projects in this book are aimed at the slightly more confident bag maker, youll find that all of the bag-making techniques are suitable for all levels. So even if you are a beginner, this book will teach you how to add your choice of pockets, or insert a top edge zip to an existing bag pattern, for example. I have purposefully moved away from quick-and-easy bag projects because I believe that when you spend a little more time in creating something special you will cherish the results all the more. Fear not though, readers of my bag-making blog will know that I always try my best to write simple-to-follow instructions and to include plenty of helpful photos in all of my projects and techniques, and this book is no different.

Have you ever eyed-up other womens handbags and thought to yourself nice shape, but too few pockets or too small or yukky fabric and so on? I thought so! Theres nothing wrong with wanting more pockets, a bigger bag, or even a fabric-matched purse for your glam party dress. But, as the saying goes, if you want a job doing well you have to do it yourself. This book will teach you how to do just that. It covers the basics from interfacings to pattern reading, and it contains eight scrummy bag projects. But best of all (for the first time in any bag making book) it also covers how to make the component parts of a bag, from different styles of pockets to making handles, from various bag closures to attaching linings, and much more.

Armed with the bag-making techniques inside this book, youll be able to make the eight fabulous bags featured, but, crucially, youll also be able to design and construct your own bags. Why be limited to mass-produced, shop-bought bags? Make your own bag your way and love it! If you fancy stepping up a level from homemade bags to handcrafted arm candy, step this way. All the techniques youll need are right here

Love bags; make bags!

Lisa

Visit me at my bag-making blog and say hello:

www.u-handbag.typepad.com

If you already enjoy sewing as a hobby, the chances are you already have most of the essential equipment for bag making. As with most things you get what you pay for, so buy the best you can afford and youll need to replace items less often.

Rotary cutter a rotary cutter greatly increases the speed and accuracy of fabric cutting. Also look out for rotary blade sharpeners, which will save you money on replacing dull blades.

Cutting mat for use with a rotary cutter. Choose one that has both imperial and metric gridlines (inches and centimetres). The gridlines are also really helpful when drafting your own bag patterns.

Dressmaking scissors choose scissors that cut all the way through to the tip, are as heavy as is comfortable (as the weight aids cutting stability), and are angled with the handles raised upwards.