By Jove - it's a bag!

I recently broke my recent craft ban to purchase a pattern from the CurlyPops shop.  I bought myself the Nicole Mallalieu Panel Bag. I'm a bit of a bag lady. I have bags here, there and everywhere in my house and my tastes change weekly! It was time for a new bag and even though I have made myself bags from scratch (no pattern :o ) in the past, I wanted to make one following a pattern as the ones I've made are always missing one vital component.

So I pulled out some offcut denim - a hand me down from mum's stash! Teamed it with a green retro fat eighth that I picked up at a craft show.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pattern is rated a beginner and though it was very in-depth pattern, it was also easy to follow. ALL 20 odd pages! Now I am a slack bang, she'll do kinda sewist. I hate unpicking and will avoid it at all costs, but I found myself actually UNPICKING errors I had made - due to rushing through and not reading the instructions. I highly recommend that if you do make this bag, read it LINE for LINE - don't just assume this is what you do, because the way it's explained is straight forward and you will find yourself like me going 'duh, that was an easier way to get from A to B… not to mention far neater!'

I didn't have an O-rings in my stash so I opted to use a D-ring instead - I've not used anything like this before and to see how easily it comes together was like a lightbulb moment! I wasn't entirely happy with my bag strap - I had a BRILLIANT idea to zigzag down the middle, thus enclosing the opening in the middle that I was supposed to hand sew… note excessive use of sarcasm in BRILLIANT idea… next time I will HAND SEW it as per the instructions! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This bag has a LOT of pieces to cut out. It is time consuming - especially if you are slow like me. I think it took me over 2 hours to get all the pieces cut - time I should have spent working on one of my numerous Work In Progresses… or housework!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I teamed up some orange & white dot fabric I had in my stash, left over from a recent quilt (the green retro fabric has yellow and orange flowers, this orange matched it nearly perfectly) I had the option of a zip pocket and I very nearly decided NOT to proceed with it - you know because I'm the queen of shortcuts and well… my experience with zippers has not been kind. After much deliberation I decided to go ahead with the zipper because the instructions were so clear and concise and I am so glad I did. I now have a nearly perfect zippered pocket in my bag - I didn't think I'd ever use the words Perfect and Zipper in the same sentence… but hey - obviously there's hope for me yet!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are 3 pockets on the opposite side of the bag, perfect fit for my iPhone and other paraphernalia like chocolate, cough lollies and a small notebook!  I even did a magnetic closure! 

I really enjoyed making this bag and though the construction of it took me the better part of a day to complete (not sure if that is because I was taking my time and enjoying the process or because I am a really SLOW sewer) I will definitely be buying another of these patterns to attempt in the near future! Perhaps after the craft ban is lifted!!!