Sling bag

I had so much fun making an apron for tie one on that I decided to make a bag for the purse project

But then blogger ate my lengthy post, time got away from me and I didn't get my photo emailed in time to be included... sigh. It was a fun project though, and I was pleased with how the bag turned out.

I knew from the get go that I wanted to use this pattern:




Although I have a few vintage tea towels stashed away, I wasn't ready to cut into any of them. I looked around a bit and finally found a maize (yellow is Chatterbelle's favorite color) colored cotton jacquard weave towel at Target and decided that it would be suitable.

The pattern is pretty simple - just two pieces - a front piece and a back piece. My intent was to use just one towel for this project. The two pattern pieces fit with only inches to spare. Even so, I managed to spend more than a few minutes adjusting and readjusting the pieces to get the best use of the floral design. (I've been told in the past that I tend to over think things...)

After I finished cutting out the pieces, I realized that the reverse side of the towel had a lovely design as well. I had a fleeting thought to sew up the bag with the wrong side out. Then I decided to just make an inside pocket and stitch that into the lining with the reverse side out. This photo shows the inside pocket after it had been stitched to the lining, but before the lining had been turned.




The lining fabric was purchased for another project. But when I found it serendipitously hanging out with the maize colored towel in the laundry basket, I knew they were destined to be partners in this project. I think the multi-colored stripes add a bit of zip to the soft tones of the towel.

While this bag was fun to make, it's been more fun to watch Chatterbelle fill it with treasures and carry it around on her wrist just like in the pattern photo.