Bag Lady

I'm a girl who loves purses and shoes.  I like to change out my bag often.  I have fun, bright, happy colored bags for spring, straw bags for summer, earthier colored bags for fall, and for winter sturdy leather bags.  It's been a long winter and I'm itching for spring.  I want to carry a fun, bright, happy color like Pantone's color of the year:  Honeysuckle.

The problem of course is that it's still winter.  I've been slowly trying to work my way through my fabric stash, so I thumbed through my stash looking for inspiration.  I found it.  A happy pink fabric with a honeysuckle stripe.  Unfortunately it was a lightweight cotton totally unsuited to a NY winter.  But I also found a black and grey tiger striped corduroy, the perfect weight and look for a winter bag.

I always carry a big bag, because I'm in that stage of life where I need to carry my own things like chapstick, a notebook, and a water bottle, as well as lego men, hot wheels cars, and snacks.  I cut out an 18"x32" rectangle of the corduroy, folded it in half right sides together, and sewed up the sides.

I wanted my tote to have a squared bottom so I marked the corners and sewed across them.

I cut the honeysuckle striped fabric into 2 18"x16.5" rectangles and sewed the sides and part of the bottom.  I left a 4" gap for turning the bag right side out when I sewed the lining to the bag.

One big cavernous bag is great for toting things, but little things can get lost without pockets.  I took some more of the lining fabric and sewed an 8"x10" rectangle in half right sides out because I wanted the inside of the pocket to be pretty, too.

I pinned the pocket and sewed the bottom edge before flipping the pocket up and topstitching the sides of the pocket.

I made sure to line up the stripes, because I'd go batty if they weren't lined up.

I measured my cell phone, chapstick, and keys and divided the pocket into smaller sections.

I turned the corduroy bag right side out, and pinned the lining to it with right sides together.  I pinned some upcycled black and pink leather handles that I pulled off of an old Mary Kay bag between the outside and the lining.  I sewed all along the opening and turned the bag out of the hole I left in the lining.  Leaving too small of a hole will make giving birth to your bag a lot more difficult.

After turning it right side out, I stitched up the hole in the lining, and topstitched 1/4" down around the opening. 

Here it is done.

And hanging up, you can see the honeysuckle striped lining peeking out.

 My little pop of spring peeking out from behind winter.  Thanks for popping in and sewing with me.  I'm linking this up to Between Naps on the Porch's Metamorphosis Monday, and Making the world cuter Mondays.  And don't forget to stop by Debbiedoo's Newbie Party to check out all the new blogs out there.