Cross Body Bag - SoSewEasy - Refashioned from 3 old blouses

Another bag for my sister. This one is the Cross Body Bag from So Sew Easy. I discussed it with her and we decided to use fabric from three of my old handloom cotton blouses for this bag. The fabric is traditional Indian cotton print and was perfect for this project.










This pattern is excellent and accompanying video makes it an easy sew. Bulk of the time was spend cutting out the pieces. The pattern had a great tip of labelling the pieces as you go which I used.This really helped because there were many pieces and it is easy to get confused.

It took me a day to cut the pieces and another couple to sew it up ( about 3 to 4 hours every day ). I love the finished bag though I think it is a tag too big. If I make it again I will try and reduce the size a bit.

To give you an idea of the size the bag easily fits my iPad mini in the front pocket and can fit my macbook air inside. It has lot of pockets and is very functional.

The changes I made are

• Added a swivel hook for keys
• Divided the inside slip pocket to fit iPhone 6 and inhaler
• Used webbing for strap

I love this bag and recommend it for beginners.

Phoebe Bag by Rebeka Lambert

Finally a post after period of silence. My sister wanted a cross body purse for daily use. She wanted it to be small but utilitarian. In my search for small but pretty purses I came across the Phoebe bag. This is a free pattern by Rebeka Lambert. What a beautiful bag and very easy to sew. The instructions were simple with good photographs. I also found a youtube video Sew Along by Anna Costa. Together this was an easy sew and my sister loved the bag.

The bag has a beautiful shape and uses darts instead of the normal boxing. It has a simple tab closure with a magnetic snap. The original pattern calls for one big pocket. The bag comes with a short single strap.

I made the following changes to the pattern - Added a swivel clip attachment for keys, Outer zip pocket, Two inside slip pocket on both sides divided to two pockets for phone etc. I also increased the strap length to cross body and used D Rings to attach the strap. An iPad mini fits in nicely.

Swivel Clip

Outside Zip Pocket

For the outer body I used a flower print quilting cotton, the lining is a matching beige recovered from an old sheet. Fusible fleece is the stabilizer as my sister wanted it to be soft but not stiff.

All in all the bag was an easy sew. If someone wants to try their hand at bag making this will be a good place to start. Anna Costa's sew along video has some very good tips - make the lining a little smaller than the outer bag, snip off the excess fabric from the darts, baste the straps and the tab closure before attaching the lining, clipping the curves, top stitching etc. I think these tips really made my bag look professional.

My sister with the bag