Weddingbee Blog

Previously on The Saga of the Magical Chair-Cover-Eco-Bag-Favor…

We had a sizing issue. If we were to make a couple hundred bags, it would be nice if they actually fit on the chairs in Hawaii, right? Well, I emailed the venue to ask what the dimensions were. They gave me a few numbers, but recommended I save myself some time by simply renting covers. Unfortunately, when in DIY-mode, practical advice falls on rather deaf ears.

Now, it’s not that I don’t trust their measurements; I’m sure they are correct. It’s just, I need to visually see the “end product”. For example, you can calculate and order a certain-sized part for a job, but you never really know if it will work out until you see it in action.

There’s a reason you can never do a worksheet without this baby:

(Theoretical - Actual)/Actual * 100 = % difference

So we made up three different-sized samples to try out.

I tagged each different bag with a number, and we’ll ship them out to Mr. Sew’s aunt in Hawaii.

#1 - 16″ x 22″, squared corners. The square corners are the easiest to sew, and look more “bag” than “cover”. But I am worried that these corners might flop around too much on the round chair.

#2 - 18″ x 22″, rounded corners. The reason we have two at the 22″ length was because that required the least amount of cuts to the initial fabric. We’re thinking mass production here!

#3 - 17″ x 17″, rounded corners. This one is my favorite, as it looks most like a bag. I put a strap on this one, just for fun.

She’ll then go down to the venue and try on each sample real-time. Hopefully our % difference is as close to zero as possible. But since there will always be a difference - with her judgment we can fine-tune the measurements before starting on mass-production.

Do you have any projects where your expected measurement varied significantly from your actual? This can apply to dress sizes and budgets, as well!