Now That's One Organized Bag!

At least that's what my hubby said when I modeled my newest Sunday afternoon creation.

Indeed it is! There are pockets on the outside and pockets on the inside.

I picked up this pattern "Sew Awesome Bags" by Wilma Niemann (743 Butler, Valley Center, Kansas 67147 wniemann@cox.net) from the Kingwood Quilt Show on Friday. I purchased it from Nana's Parcels (102 Pecos St, Glen Rose TX 76043 254.897.4313) and knew immediately that the fabulous beach stripe that I purchased from P&B this January would make a great bag. You may remember from an earlier post that my sister-in-law received zippered bags made from this fabric. I do have plans for a few for myself before this bolt is gone (grin).

This was the first time I'd worked with a product called Decor Bond by Pellon. I love the way it stiffin'ed up my bag! I think I need to find this on the bolt too, can think of lots of future uses...

The inside of the bag called for a long strip that would be made into several pockets, with you making the choice for the width and how many divisions. Since my interior was a dizzy stripe I figured I'd better use my beach print or I'd never find my pockets! (I have a bolt of this stripe too, so I'll be useing it a lot -- you may remember it from my "Ugly Quilt" I made in Feb -- I do like the stripe though! )

I made the pockets to fit my travel "wet wipes" (Swine Flu and all, it's good to be able to wipe my hands when I need to), my glasses case (which I'm seriously thinking of remaking in beach print), my checkbook, and my calendar. If you'll notice I added a loopie to hang my keys on (left) I use a carabiner for my key ring and it's handy to have a place to attach it so I'll always know where they are without digging deep into the bottom of my purse. The red on the bottom is my plastic canvas I'm using to give the bottom some strength. It would probably be nicer if I encased it with the same dizzy blue stripe, but again, it's nice to give my eyes a break when looking into this bag!

The pattern called for a plain little pocket on the other side but I decided to try to figure out how to make a zippered pocket. I'm really into zippers since my friend Kay loaned me her zipper stash to play in after telling her about all of Laurie's neat creations I found on Laurie's blog. Have to say it didn't turn out perfect, but I learned a lot! I wanted a zippered pocket to keep my wallet in, again, so I'm not digging to the bottom of the purse. Hum, and probably my lipstick.

One other change that I made was to lower the position of the interior pockets, I've found with other bags that I tend to overload the pockets, so if they are closer to the bottom then the weight falls on the bottom of the bag and is not pulling down the sides (does that make sense? I can do it better than I can explain it.). I really love to be organized. Pockets are wonderful.

I think the back is pretty too. I figured with the button closure (Velcro actually) that I could keep it straight what side was what, but it does help that the colors are a little different too. Can you see all the possibilities of this beach stripe fabric? I'm going to have fun working through this bolt!

With all these pockets I don't know what I'll put in the purse! Did I mention that the outside pocket is large enough to hold my water bottle? Yep, I'm thinkin this is my 'going to market' bag -- only I'll need to make one in fall colors before I go to the Houston International Quilt Market and Quilt Festival in October But this would be the perfect bag! Right now it's getting close to summer and this will be my beach bag or my whatever bag. A bag for every season....

One can never have too many bags!