Harriet!
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
No, thanks, I don't need to make this project any harder. The quantity (10) will be enough of a challenge. Each bag will take 4 parts to sew together -- front & back of the outside, front & back of the inside -- and I want both outside & inside to be pretty so the bag can be reversible.
I could make the 1st test bag for myself to be not so pretty -- except chances are that I might run out of time and need to use it as one of the gifts, so the tester needs to be pretty on both sides, too.
First glitch already: I followed the instructions to print the pattern PDF, split it into 1/4ths and enlarge 200% on the copier. When I was taping the enlarged pages together I checked the measurements. Unfortunately, somewhere in the translation between her PDF to my printer to the copier's enlarging and printing, the squares on the grid became smaller than they should be.
That makes the overall measurements smaller enough to make a difference in the finished size of the bag. I started to piece in the difference on the papers, but I could see that the curve arcs would be out of proportion so I stopped.
I think the problem was with the copier enlargement thingy. Not only did it make each square a smidge smaller than it should be, but it made them not actually square, so the vertical is stretched a little more than the horizontal. The copier is the library's ancient one, I'm sure the optics have gone out of calibration over time.
The quickest/easiest way for me to enlarge the pattern will be the old-fashioned method. I'll get my old cardboard cutting board with the 1 inch grid printed on it and some see-through pattern paper. I stink at drawing free-hand but I've had enough practice with transfer from grid-to-grid to be able to sketch out the shape.
I wonder if I can find a big enough piece of cardboard to glue the pattern on. I'll be cutting out a lot of these, it would be handy to have a pattern that's more sturdy. Then I could just set the cardboard piece on the fabric and quickly trace around it with my chalk pencil.