Making Gifts

I absolutely love making things for people. My poor friends though, they don't really have a say in the matter - they pretty much get what I envision for them. I made this bag for a friend of mine for her birthday this week. I'm pretty sure she told me at one time she liked the colors brown and green and she wanted something with polka dots. I actually started on a bag for her for last year's birthday but just didn't like the way it was coming out, so... it's still sitting in a WIP pile somewhere. As I embarked on this year's attempt, I blocked "polka dots" out of my mind and picked out the fabric and bag that I thought suited her. Never mind that it might not be anything like she really wanted, but I have to say, I just love the way it came out.

This is Amy Karol's bag pattern from her book Bend-the-Rules Sewing and I LOVE how massive it is. It doesn't look this big in the book photo, so honestly, I thought I did something wrong. But, even if I did, I like the way it turned out. A couple of things I did differently: I put a magnetic snap in, although I wasn't happy with the placement (I would have put it a little bit lower). And I had to piece the straps because I didn't have enough fabric - but I actually like the way those came out as well. I also interfaced the exterior fabric with a cotton drill fabric and then used the fusible fleece for the interior interfacing. The bag has a really nice weight to it.

I would love to figure out how to make a zippered version of this - it would make a fabulous travel bag (carry on or my "car" bag that I shove in anything I forgot to pack). And because of the size, it actually put a dent in my fabric stash. I believe I will be making one of these for me very soon.