Last week I carved out some time to make myself a new bag. And I’m so glad I did. Because it is the nicest bag I have ever made. I have made bags before, but on this one I really went all out.
First of all, I quilted the outside fabric with these narrowly spaced lines. The fabric (a bark cloth) needed some support and quilting seemed like a good way to do that. So this was done out of necessity but holy batman, I totally love the look of it. It’s not the last time I’ll be doing this.
Even if it is an extra step that takes for-like-ever. But it’s definitely worth it, right?
I also added interfacing to the lining fabric to make the bag extra sturdy.
Last year I made a bag with a sort-of recessed zipper, but because that bag was really floppy and not interfaced, you can’t tell that the zipper is recessed. However, on this bag you definitely can tell that it’s recessed. I made sure of that. The casing (or whatever you call it) is sewn to the side so the zipper won’t pop above the edge of the bag.
I have a lot of extra seams in this bag. I wanted it to be strong! So I can carry all my crap stuff with me. :-)
I used a bit of the outer fabric to line the pocket. It’s fun to just get a peep of a different fabric when you look inside.
The straps are made from brown fake leather that I had in my stash. Sewing the first strap went fairly easily but the second one was just a right pain. I think I did 3 times before I finally gave up and checked the internet for help. Covering it with tissue paper made it so much easier to sew.
Fabric notes
Outer fabric: Quadrant Pink from the Time Warp collection from Cloud9, designed by Jessica Jones.
Lining fabric: Commute by Taxi from the Gramercy collection from Art Gallery Fabrics, designed by Leah Duncan.