justflyingin

Difficult for me having to do with the instructions...
Just small things: I didn't see that she told you to baste the zippers in first. I would never attempt to put the zipper in without basting--but she tells you just to pin the zipper in place, and then place the facing on and attempt to sew all three layers together. I can see failure there.... It wouldn't work for me, for sure.

You have to do some cutting out of the corner of the lining, for example, but she tells you exactly what to do. I had to reread some of the instructions through slowly in order to understand them. I didn't totally understand attaching the big long inner pocket that is divided into three compartments--but I got it in. I didn't think that diagram was totally clear to me--maybe it's my age...;0

Difficult because of the complexity:
There are lots of thicknesses when you are dealing with the bottom. At least with my interfacing, I could see some machines not dealing with that well.... The instructions are clear if you have the fabric in front of you and just follow them--as they are written--- even if at first they don't make complete sense. I tried to read the pattern all the way through first and tried to visualize everything, but that's not the author's fault that I couldn't do it very well. (I had a hard time with Geometry in high school because I don't see spatial very well until it is visible...)

I had never put in a middle zipper pocket, making sure the sides were attached to the bag.

I had never done a magnetic snap before but in the pattern she said that she had instructions on her website, so I took a quick break to check that out. I appreciated that.

But overall, a really great pattern! Don't let me scare you away from trying it!

Just take it one step at a time. She does some great things like a summary sheet of your pieces you need with a sheet of labels that you can copy off and attach to your pieces to help keep you organized. That was really nice!

With the exception of the inside flapped pocket, I thought her instructions were quite clear. A couple of places she even says to "Admire and then set it aside as we had to work on another part". It is true--I was looking at it, kind of in amazement as I worked.

I had made some basic totes before--I mean, pretty simple--started out with a kind of grocery bag, and even did a lined simple tote before with outside pockets, but this was by far the most advanced one I've ever done. I like all the extras like the pockets and the cord locks/velcro, etc. It could make it expensive, however, if you had to pay regular prices for each thing like cord locks for $2 each/ velcro, etc.