Messenger Bag

I made the adult sz Messenger Bag for this months LTTSA project. This is the last month for our group and I've had so much fun making things from the LTTS book and seeing the awesome creativity of the ladies in the group. I'm planning on giving this bag to my littlest sister as her last late Christmas present. What can I say. I'm a procrastinator. Trying to recover though :)

I learned from this project the importance of basting. When in doubt, baste. And then baste again. I think every curve and seam on this bag have at least 2 or 3 rows of stitches on them. But It made things come out very nicely and without any guesswork. I had a tiny bit of trouble understanding exactly what I was supposed to do when making the pleated front pocket, but once I started on it, I saw what was supposed to happen and only had to take out two seams on that part. That was the only challenging part of the project. The rest when surprisingly smoothly and nicely. I really like how it turned out and will probably make more of these in the future. Maybe a patchwork one.

The bag is a dark brown corduroy with chocolate, green, pink, off white striped bias binding and a fun flowery summery med weight home dec fabric for the lining. The pictures really don't do the vibrant colors justice. I used some bronze 2"ish metal rings to attach the shoulder strap to. I actually saved these from an old purse that was falling apart. It pays to upcycle. The strap is long enough to sit at my hip when slung over my shoulder and worn cross-shoulder style. It's pretty much awesome if I do say so myself. Hehe. Bought time I had a project work out right for me. Last week was one catastrophic failure after another. It was no fun. So I took a break from crafting and read a book or two, and then started up again. AND with a clean workroom nonetheless. Pics will be up this week! I can't wait to show you.

And Finally, A big thanks to Jessica our fearless leader for hosting this Little Things To Sew party over on her blog. It's been so much fun and I wish her the best of luck and creativeness as she competes in this season of Project Run & Play. It's been tons of fun :)