A new bag for Mama!

I've been wanting a new bag for a while, but none of the patterns I had were quite the right size. I wanted something bigger than a purse, but smaller than a diaper bag. While I wait for my Amy Butler Birdie Sling Bag pattern, I decided to take advantage of the 99¢ McCall's patterns sale at JoAnn. I picked up pattern #5944, which makes either a bag or a tote with a removable liner so you can change it around between the bags. Neat idea, but not really something I thought I'd use much. So I just made the tote and skipped the velcro attachment for the liner.

First of all, unless I was missing something (and that's very possible) I think the instructions for cutting this pattern out were completely wrong. The pieces for the front, back and inner linings had markings for cutting on the fold. But the cutting diagrams had them smack in the middle of the fabric. There was no place in the instructions where those pieces would have been sewn together, so I put them on the fold. I was working with 54" wide canvas, so it worked, but I'd have been annoyed if I hadn't had enough fabric!

I used Denyse Schmidt's County Fair line, which I LOVE! Even with the outside and lining of this bag being home dec weight, it's pretty floppy. When I make another (and I will!) I'll use a stiffer interfacing. I think I'll also make a second set of outer pockets so that it goes all around the bag, and stitch it into three pockets rather than in half as the instructions say. Having only two pockets makes for wide, shallow pockets- I think narrower ones would be better for carrying the all-important sippy cup.

This is my first successful binding, so I'm very pleased about that (as long as I don't look too closely!).