[elleryolivia]

Anyone had trouble fitting the back panel on the messenger bag? So far evereything has gone together beautifully, so I’m pretty sure all the measurements are correct. Even after making several clips at the curves of the side panel, I seem to have extra fabric on the back panel that just won’t fit with the side panel. i have the notches lined up at the bottom center seam and where the gusset meets the side panel, parallel to where the strap is attached. What am I doing wrong? So close to finishing! Thanks.

[JohannaO]

I think when I made this I had to make multiple clips into the curves, probably about every centimeter or so. So just sing along with me, “Just keep clipping, just keep clipping” (To the tune of Dory’s Song in Finding Nemo) I would look at my bag, but it’s off with my niece.

[Robin]

I had the back panel oriented the wrong way when I made this bag. When fixed, I did need to clip a lot.

[SharonH]

I have just made the messenger bag (large size), and I too had trouble fitting the back panel. There seemed to be way too much fabric in the back panel. This was odd because, as elleryolivia said, the rest came together beautifully! I think I may have found the problem…..I’ll try to explain. The back panel pattern piece is exactly twice the length of the front panel piece, with the notches in the centre of the back piece. Now on pg 31 of the book, in the section “Attach the back panel and bias binding”, the instructions say to line up the notches of the back panel with the side panel’s gusset seams. But you can see from the pictures on pg 31 that the side panel gusset seams lie below the top edge of the front panel. So this half of back panel, being the same size as the front panel, clearly won’t fit. Are you getting me??!!

Anyhow I trimmed about 1.5″ from the length of the back panel and its lining (keeping the curved corners), so that the notches are now asymmetrical, being closer to the “base” end than the “flap” end. It worked a treat, with the back panel fitting much more easily. Curve clipping still required. I have since made two more bags with the modified pattern (shorter back panel) and they worked great. I’ll put the pictures on flickr. Anyone else had any thoughts about this?!

[Lightning McStitch]

I do recall that step being beastly difficult. I suspect I ended up with my notches out slightly and many, many clips into the seam allowance, but it all came together in the end. I blamed the stooopidly heavy duty canvas I was using at the time, interesting to hear others have had such trouble too.

[with love Heidi]

Hi I also had BIG trouble with this piece. I ended up being suspisious that the notches are in the wrong place on the back piece because I checked it witht he fron t pice and they are the same size and if you ignore the back notches and line up the bottom and then the side on gut feeling then it goes together well. I still needed to clip a little but not very much. I made it before Christmas last year so it was a while ago. I ment to start a disscusion querying the notch placement but I don’t think I did it as I was only new to Oliver and S and a little intimidated by the group. I am planning on making some as christmas gifts this year.

[SharonH]

Good to hear that it is not just me 😉 You should have totally queried the notch placement Heidi! Another way around it is to do what you did, just ignore the back panel notches, and you end up with a slightly longer front flap on your bag. I found that by reducing the length of the back panel I was able to squeeze a bag out of a smallish piece of fabric so it was win-win! I’m making a bag for each of my three chillun and a family of four we are visiting next school holidays in Perth (Australia). Better get on it!

[with love Heidi]

Just bunping this up so Liesl/Todd see ti as they sem to be doing a bit of a check of things at the moment.

[Liesl Gibson]

I’m going to look into this as soon as I have a moment. Thanks for calling it to my attention!

[SharonH]

Hi Liesl! I just made four messenger bags in the small size. Again, they came together brilliantly and I am really pleased with how they turned out. For the first time I noticed the notches on the long edge of the gusset piece (6g). If you line up the notches of the back panel with these notches (which don’t seem to have any other use), instead of with the side panel gusset seams (as per instructions), then the back panel fits in just fine. This makes sense, as the gusset notches sit level with the top edge of the front panel once the front panel is joined to the side panel. I suspect this is the case with the large size too.

This is kinda hard to explain isn’t it, which makes me appreciate even more the fabulous Oliver & S instructions 😉

[with love Heidi]

Thanks Liesl

[Liesl Gibson]

Sorry for the delay. We’ve finally had a chance to check this and it is, indeed a little error! The notches should match instead of matching the seam to the notch. Here is the fix:

In the first three printings of the book, there was a minor error in the Messenger Bag project instructions. On page 31 under the heading “Attach the Back Panel and Bias Binding,” Step 2 begins: “Pin the back panel to the bag, with lining sides together and matching the side panels’ gusset seams to the notches at the sides of the back panel.” Instead of “gusset seams,” this sentence should read, “… matching the side panels’ notches to the notches at the sides of the back panel.”

[with love Heidi]

Thanks Liesl, It’s nice to know it wasn’t just me. I was concerned at the time as it was only my 3rd Oliver and S pattern after I discovered them last year.