A little while ago a friend asked me to make a bag for her sister’s birthday.  Finally, about a month after said birthday, the bag is done!

The pattern is the Large Tote & Satchel, by Nicole Mallalieu Design.  My friend provided the fabric.  The plain maroon fabric didn’t work as well as I would have liked, unfortunately – it was a little too crisp and despite the addition of interfacing and fusible wadding it didn’t have the heft that I prefer to work with.  I was a bit disappointed in the finished result.

I modified the pattern slightly by using Nikki’s excellent instructions for making a hard structured base, and included purse feet.

The strap is adjustable – I really like making straps this way.  A layer of fusible wadding, topstitching, a bit of bag hardware, and ta-da, a comfy bag strap!

There are two inside pockets, one zippered, and the flap closes with a magnetic catch.  There is a layer of clear PVC over the flap, and I bound the flap together with bias binding.  I hope that Terri likes it!

Edited to add: The PVC covering the flap is from the tablecloth area at Spotlight – make sure that you get the thinnest clear PVC for sewing.  The zip, D-rings, slide adjuster, purse feet, interfacing and wadding all come from Nicole Mallalieu Design.