The other day I mentioned Lee Ann’s Classmate Tote. I wanted to share SueG’s bag with you. It is the other one I made.
As you can see, I made it from the same fabric (Carrie Bloomston) with which I have been making her other gifts. I really hope she likes it as I still have enough to make some other gifts. This does mean that she and Carrie have a couple of bags that are different from each other. I have tried to make them the same bags, but Carrie is not on the board, so she didn’t get one of these. Christmas? We’ll see.
One of the things *I* like about this fabric is the color wheels. I know I have mentioned it before. It is very handy to have a color wheel with you. I didn’t manage to get one of them on the front, but I was able to get one on the back – a whole color wheel. I am thrilled.
This is a very active print, so I wanted the accent fabric to work with the activity. I chose the black and white stripes. They do add a lot of movement, but I don’t think they compete with the Carrie Bloomston fabric.
It is great to use a whole piece of fabric for the exterior, but I wonder, given the design, if I could add another slip pocket on the outside? Considering how the bag closes, it might not work, or I would have to have a pocket that closes. Something to think about.
As with Lee Ann’s the inside is very useful. I, again, chose the white version of the Carrie Bloomston fabric and was able to fit most of 3 color wheels inside. It is a bit over the top and I probably should have chosen a less active print. Still, it would be useful for a travel kit.
I showed photos to someone who said it looked like a jewelry organizer.
One thing I did differently from the pattern is use some double fold elastic for the pens and pen-like tools holder. The pattern calls for making a pocket (see example) using fabric folded and sewn. I didn’t like the thickness and I thought something like a simple strip would be more useful. The blue strip replaces the pocket. As you can see, I varied the size between the stitch lines so even a small rotary cutter could fit. I triple stitched so it would be tight and wouldn’t pull off with heavy use. Fingers crossed it works.
The closure is a part of the pattern I am not 100% happy with. I thought about what I could use to replace it, but didn’t think of anything, so I went with the directions in the pattern. I don’t know if I’ll make this again, but I’ll have to think about a different closure if I do.
I did fussy cut a bit to get the color wheel, as mentioned above, but also make sure something interesting was on the bottom so it looked good like I have shown in the photo above.
Carrie did a great job wrapping, as usual. She is amazingly gifted at wrapping. I am always so impressed with what she comes up with.