Gift Post #8: Multi-tasker Tote

TFQ Multi-tasker Tote
TFQ Multi-tasker Tote

I put this Multi-tasker Tote on my list in 2013 or even 2012, maybe. It feels like it has been on that list forever. Fortunately, it doesn’t matter, because the pattern worked the same in 2015 as it did when I made it last time.**

I couldn’t carry my machine and prepping projects seemed like a good idea. I decided to cut out the bag when I went to Reno. Cutting out bags is very time consuming for me. I found it hard. I felt sad and depressed after I finished the cutting, though having Julie, Kathleen and Mrs. K there made it better.

The following weekend, Thanksgiving weekend, for #BFSI, I started sewing this bag together. The Multi-tasker Tote pattern is such a great pattern and it is a joy to make (the sewing part, not the prep part). I felt so much better after I started it. You should click on my link, buy it AND make it!

I worked on it late at night and within a short amount of time, the bag started to look like something. It was such a thrill.

Large inside pocket
Large inside pocket

I did a couple of things differently. First I made a the inside pocket really large. I wanted the pocket to accommodate a journal to keep it safe and away from a water bottle or other wet things.

I wanted contrast so I made the pocket out of the outside black batik. I really like the black batik, though I might have thought differently if I had made the matching Sew Together Bag first (see post about that soon). I didn’t have enough of the black to make the outside of the Sew Together bag, which was a disappointment. I have a thing about making sets of matching items.

AMH MTT key ring loop
AMH MTT key ring loop

I also made the key ring flatter. I wasn’t sure why beyond not wanting to sew through so many layers of fabric and interfacing. It turns out that TFQ can clip some of her zipper bags (she is making them now and selling them at select craft fairs and by order), using a carabiner or a key ring clip or something to this bag. I have a sprongy chain so I can clip my keys to my handbag and I may try and make something like that with a piece of elastic in a later bag. We’ll see.

I used quite a bit of Shapeflex to give the bag some structure. You know I don’t like floopy bags. It looked stiff, though, which wasn’t ideal.

I gave TFQ the bag for her birthday on Monday and she liked it, or I thought she liked it. I’ll look forward to seeing how it works for her when it softens up a bit with use.

 

 

 

**Nota bene: I don’t actually know if the link to the bag is the last time I made a AMH MTT. It seems like a long time ago and I thought I had made one more recently.