Beginning my Sewing Journey: Haralson Belt Bag

Similar to how I start every single hobby, I had the sudden urge to make all my outfits for Electric Forest this year. As I don’t think I can knit every single one of them, that meant I had to take my dive into sewing again.

I sewed two things when I was younger: a quilt and a flannel robe, which I still have today. Neither of them was perfect, but I loved them and was proud to say I made them. However… it had been nearly two decades since I last touched a sewing machine.

I scoured the internet for sewing classes in Denver to get the hang of things again and stumbled upon SewBo in Boulder. Since I commute to Boulder a few days a week, I signed up for a few classes around my work schedule.

As I usually do, I also jumped in with both feet. I signed up for a Sewing 101 class but wasn’t able to squeeze in the 201 class before the bag class I wanted to take, so I signed up for a private lesson to learn how to sew a zipper. A week later, I was in a bag-making class where I tackled the Haralson Belt Bag from Noodlehead.

As a big music person, I’d purchased these patches from the LSDREAM online merch store to attach to a vest of mine. There were 5 patches in the bag, so I had a few extra. I decided this was the perfect opportunity to sew them on to my new bag.

I generally like to make bright items that I can wear at music festivals and shows, so I picked out this bright pink leather to pair with the olive corduroy. It was an odd match at first, but when I started adding the neon threads and strap, the vision started coming together.

I won’t lie – there are definitely a few things I didn’t sew perfectly straight, but I love this bag. It’s something that I made and I’m proud of it for my third big sewing project. Sure, there are some things I’d change, but in the meantime, this bad boy has already seen a few shows with plenty more to come in the future. Next up… another bag maybe?

Would I recommend this bag for beginners?

This might be appropriate for advanced beginners, but it’s definitely a bit more challenging for someone with limited pattern reading and sewing experience. It’s probably more of an intermediate pattern but an advanced beginner could tackle it with help (like I did).