When Your New Design Looks Great (Except for One Thing)

We tried a new pattern today. A toiletry bag — lined, zippered, actually pretty cute.

The pattern’s zipper instructions didn’t work with the hardware we had, so we improvised. Made adjustments on the fly, figured out a workaround, and honestly? The adjustments worked. The bag is solid. The construction is clean. We were feeling very smug about it.

Then we held it up and realized the zipper closure looks like a butthole.

Not like “oh if you squint maybe” — like, unmistakably. There is no angle where it doesn’t.

And that’s the thing about handmade items: sometimes you don’t see the problem until you’re done. You’re in the zone, things are going exactly right, you’ve prepared for this, and then blammo. The universe finds a way to humble you.

Our tip: (Not that Pinky is good at taking their own advice) Test unfamiliar techniques on the smallest possible version first. If we’d done a quick test piece with the zipper before committing to the whole bag, we’d have caught the… situation… before the topstitching was done. Instead we have a fully finished bag that works great and looks unfortunate.

But that’s what gifts are for. And that’s what spouses are for — someone has to use the butthole bag, and it’s not going to be us.

The next version is already in our heads. The closure’s getting reworked. The bag itself? Chef’s kiss. We just need to un-butthole it.
— Pinky