Bex Bag No. 1

There was a crafting emergency at my house.

I needed to make a bag. I needed to make a bag so badly it affected my sleep.

Step one: Create the pattern. Why? Don't you have a pattern? Well, yes, I do have a few bag patterns, but I wanted something in a shape I couldn't find in my collection. Pencil, graph paper, ruler--GO!

Step two: Toss and turn all night due to ideas spinning through your head.

Step three: Transfer pattern to even bigger graph paper.

Step four: Find some fabric. I wandered all over the house, the garage, the basement, anywhere fabric might be hiding. Finally, I found all the "possible" bags. As you can see from the first picture, I managed to find enough fabric to create bags from today until, oh, the end of the year. Maybe. I need to stop hoarding.

Step five: Goodness, haven't you cut anything out by now? Quick, pick two... okay, three... fabrics that match well enough to go into one bag. Most likely only need two, but three is better.

Hmmm... what time is dinner?

Step six: Grab that pattern, the fabric and start cutting. Go, go, go! Realize this fabric really needs some support, find some more fabric to use as interfacing. Cut that out. Sew the shell fabric to the interfacing. Oh, much better.

Step seven: Assemble all the pieces. Sew, press, repeat. Finally, a bag!

Step Eight: Sleep well, knowing that the horrible, wonderful, creative idea has been born into the world. ::Sigh::

Next stop: integrating pockets, zippers and the like. Since this is the prototype, it can be simple.

The first picture shows the bag with the flap closed. Also, since the straps are actually separate, you can tie them either long, for a bag that goes across your body, or tie them short for a shoulder bag.

The bottom of the bag is approximately 4"x10", the bag is 11" across the top and 10" deep.

Comments, as always, are welcome.