This is what I looked like when I arrived home from a long weekend with two of my oldest friends. We had a fabulous time, but I had to leave early because I was completely and utterly exhausted. And then I had to wrestle this bag across London on a bus and a train, which just about finished me off.
I started to pack my little wheeled suitcase. Then I decided that was overkill for a long weekend, and took everything out. I tried to re-pack everything into my Baba Studio Alice in Wonderland bag, but that was too small. So I decided to make a new weekend bag. Three hours before I was due to leave. As you do.
I knew I’d have to leave my bag in the cloakroom at the V&A, so I went to their website to see what size of bag they’d accept. I took those measurements, subtracted an inch all round to be on the safe side, pulled out the heaviest fabric in my stash, and set to work. It’s an extremely basic rectangular box bag, with a zip set into the top. It has two long handles, so it can be carried on the shoulder. It took hardly any time to make, and I was really pleased with it.
Until I took it upstairs and realised that it was actually larger than my little suitcase. And less convenient because it didn’t have wheels. Oops.
I dragged the damn thing into London anyway, but unfortunately it met with a slight disaster on the way home. Heading upstairs on the bus, I caught one of the handles on the end of the hand rail. The stitching turned out to be stronger than the fabric, and now there’s a hole. Oops.
Obviously I could fix the hole, and I should have reinforced the area behind the handles in the first place… but the bag was so big and so heavy that I can’t bear to think about using it again for a while! Maybe when I do mend it, I’ll make it a little bit smaller at the same time.