Purse Re-Vamp

So I tried baking a whole two loaves of bread again, and AGAIN they came out flat!  Well, not flat like flat bread, but definitely not sandwich-bread sized.  The extra honey worked to sweeten it a bit (not even 1/6 cup extra), but next time I think I'm either going to try the 8" pan, or put the whole thing in one loaf pan, since my pans are coming out half-full.  The recipe says it's for two loaves, but it works out differently for everyone.  Another question I have is whether I need to get my yeast to room temperature first.  I use bread machine yeast so I don't have to activate it before putting it in the recipe, and I store it in the fridge.  Perhaps next time I'll try that as well.

For weeks I've had a purse sitting here awaiting repair.  It was a cute purse that I made with a pattern I bought at Hancock Fabrics on sale.  It pattern is Simplicity Learn to Sew 2164.  I made bag "c" and I even made it a bit bigger so my planner could fit in comfortably!  I had some reservations about this bag after using it, though.  I felt like the handles were going to come off, some of the seems for pockets were showing, and sure enough, when I put my keys in one of the front pockets, the pocket started to come off!  :(  I like the purse in general, and I wanted to repair it.  I also realized in the process of ripping stitches out that I'd never taken pictures of it, so here are some pictures while ripping:

I'm very proud of this pocket...I added it without a pattern!

I also added interfacing to the bag to make it more substantial.

I learned a lot while re-doing some of the purse.  My problem with the front pocket was that I had sewn it on, but when I sewed the actual bag together, I didn't sew in far enough to cover that seem.  There were many places like that, so I ended up just sewing another seen closer in.

My other main problem was my worry about the straps being weak.  I decided to sew them in differently than just the top-seem, so I sewed them in like this instead:

 

It worked beautifully to steady the straps!  Unfortunately, in the end, I found that I'd sewn the straps on backwards, so I had to go back and rip all that nice, tight stitching out.  It took me longer to take that out than it had been to do all the other repairs on the bag in general!

Another problem is now the purse is too short.  There's no where for the button on the front to be places, and the strap is too short for my liking.  I'm glad I did this because now I know how to make it a better bag next time, but I'm not sure what to do with this bag.  I only did repairs to the front, patterned part.  Perhaps I could take out the lining and use that to make a new bag?  Who knows!

Here's a picture of the purse as it is currently:

See how there's no room for a button anymore?

Now it's August and I'm going to start doing more for school, so watch for some classroom pictures!

Emily