I am happy to finally introduce my latest sewing pattern to you, now available for instant download in my pattern store: the California Sunshine Bag!

Back from vacation, back with a new bag sewing pattern! As it turned out, I not only took my new rose petal bag with me on vacation but I also decided to take the bag along which had been my latest project before I hit the road.
I needed a bag that would be big enough for the things I would have with me while exploring two of the most interesting cities of the world: Las Vegas and San Francisco. Especially for Vegas and the Nevada desert this meant that my recently purchased refillable water bottle had to fit in there. I am constantly scared to dehydrate :)

My new bag was perfect for sightseeing in the cities: not only did my water bottle fit in there but also all the other stuff you need to have with you, like wallet, keys, phone, camera, sunglasses, my travel guide...

This was my first visit to the Southwest. I totally fell in love with San Francisco and the Bay area in general. At some point I drove south on Highway 1, exploring the Pacific coast, and I was stunned by the beauty of the area.
Back home it was time for me to name my new bag design, as feedback of my pattern testers came rolling in. I didn’t have to think too long about it: I wanted it to remind me of all the great experiences I made on my trip so I decided to name it the California Sunshine Bag :)

This bag comes with four pockets in addition to the main compartment. It has a large slip pocket on the back and an interior zip pocket. On the front of the bag there are two smaller slip pockets, which are folded into decorative pleats.
The flap closes with a magnetic snap that is attached to a tab. This closure is connected to the flap of the bag with an O-ring and a decorative strip of fabric which is sewn onto the center of the flap. The strap is long enough for the bag to be worn on one shoulder or across the body.

The pdf file comes with 18 pages of instructions, 44 pictures and 6 pattern pieces. All measurements are given in centimeters and inches.
The finished size of this bag is 28.5 x 39 x 4.5 cm / 11.25 x 15.5 x 1.75 in (height x width x depth).

Supplies needed:

- Exterior fabric: 1 m or 1 yd
- Lining fabric: 1 m or 1 yd
- Fusible fleece e.g. Pellon 987F: ½ m or ½ yd
- Fusible interfacing, e. g. Pellon 931 TD:  1 ½ m or 1 ½ yd
- 2 rectangular rings (2.5 cm /1”)
- 1 O-ring (approx. 4 cm/ 1.5” diameter)
- 1 magnetic snap
- 1 zipper, 18 cm (7”)

And now please have a look at the bags my testers made. They have outdone themselves again and I am so grateful for all their help!

Ree from Sincerely, Ree was done with her bag after only five days. She is a true sewing addict and I love how she always embellishes her items, like in this case with the red bows!

This is Susan's California Sunshine Bag. She combined blue and purple batik fabrics which make an awesome color combo!

I love the bright colors of Kristin's California Sunshine Bag and the way the different prints match! You can see the cute floral pattern of the lining even better in the close-up.

I saw Susan's bag and thought: yes, my name for the pattern totally matches her bag! It makes me think of springtime, sunshine and walking through fields of California wildflowers :)

Jodi's bag comes in a beautiful floral fabric in pink and brown shades. Her bag looks so well finished, nice job!

Carol used some awesome constrasting prints for her California Sunshine Bag. I am totally in love with this combination!

Silvia used fabrics by Kaffe Fassett for her California Sunshine Bag. These awesome bright colors make her bag a real eyecatcher!

This is DeeAnn's California Sunshine Bag. She used a dark blue fabric with a rose print and it really looks amazing for this bag pattern!

Lisa's bag looks so elegant, I love the combination of the plain dark green exterior fabric and the lining with the butterfly pattern. Absolutely stunning!

If you like this pattern and would like to make a California Sunshine Bag yourself you can now purchase the pattern in my pattern store. How do you like my new design? I would love to hear your opinion so please leave me a comment below :)
Happy sewing!

Yay!! Back from vacation and getting ready for more fun to come! I will be participating in this year's Purse Palooza, a real fun event hosted by Sara from Sew Sweetness. I was thrilled when she asked me if I wanted to take part as a guest blogger this year! For all you sewing freaks out there: this is a great opportunity to showcase your sewing talents. Find all the info you need below and get ready!!

 <div align="center"><a href="http://www.sewsweetness.com/2013/09/purse-palooza-2013.html" title="Sew Sweetness"><img src="http://i869.photobucket.com/albums/ab257/bluemerleboutique/pursepalooza12.jpg" alt="Sew Sweetness" style="border:none;" /></a></div> 

I am really excited to announce my new sewing pattern, now available for instant download in my pattern store: The Working Girl Laptop Bag!

Carry your laptop and other devices in style! The Working Girl laptop bag comes with lots of extra pockets and the shape of the flap and the attached piping gives this bag its character.
This bag has one main compartment, which fits most 15" laptops. There are three additional slip pockets, to carry your notepad or your tablet. As an extra treat there is also a hidden 18 cm (7") zip pocket within the middle pocket which carries your keys or phone. You can wear this bag across the body or carry it as a sleeve by simply unhooking the strap from the D-rings.

The pdf file comes with 18 pages of instructions, 44 pictures and 2 pattern pieces. All measurements are given in centimeters and inches.
The finished size of this bag is 28.5 x 39 x 4.5 cm / 11.25 x 15.5 x 1.75 in (height x width x depth).

Supplies needed:
- Exterior fabric: 1 m or 1 yd
- Lining fabric: 1 ¼ m or 1 ¼ yd
- Fusible fleece e.g. Pellon 987F: ½ m or ½ yd
- Fusible interfacing, e. g. Pellon 931 TD:  1 ¾ m1 ¾ yd
- Cotton filler cord for piping (6/32”): 1.80 m or 2 yd
- 2 D-rings (2.5 cm / 1”)
- 2 swivel clips (2.5 cm / 1”)
- 1 twist lock
- 1 zipper, 18 cm (7”)

My testers turned in beautiful work as always. A big thank you to all of you!!

Ree - this girl rocks! She finished her test pattern in a blink of an eye and she always puts so much creativity into her items: Check out the ruffle that she attached instead of piping!  Ree blogs at "Sincerely, Ree", so head over and take a look at her other amazing projects.

This is Tonya's bag: she used a batik fabric of blue and purple shades, very pretty! Instead of a twist lock she decided to go with a nice and decorative silver button.

Dee used Ric Rac instead of piping for her laptop bag. She also used a magnetic snap instead of a twist lock. I like her exterior fabric which kind of matches the theme of this bag :) Please check out Dee's blog as well!

Kim dicided to go with green shades for her laptop bag. This was her first time making piping and it turned out perfectly I would say :) Kim added another zipper pocket on the back of the bag for her e-reader. Nice idea!

Marcia of "Sew Inspired" made this bag and said she is definitely keeping it for herself. I like the contrasting patterns of her exterior and lining fabric, especially on the piping of the flap.

Patti told me she is in "tech heaven" with this bag that carries not only her laptop but also her tablet and her GPS! She is going to make a second Working Girl laptop bag right away.

Jenniffer's laptop bag comes in this colorful fabric with an adorable circle pattern. She used Ric Rac instead of piping as well. The bright red lining fabric matches wonderfully with her home decor exterior fabric!

You can purchase the pdf pattern in my pattern store. Do you like this design? I would love to hear your opinion!
Happy sewing :)

Some of you might know that making a new bag for myself every time I am about to travel has become a tradition of mine!
(Click "vacation projects" in the category search on the right-hand side to read about my other "vacation" bags!)
I will be leaving for a trip to the Southwest of the States on Wednesday and while I was going through my clothes last week to decide on what I am going to bring I noticed that I actually don't have a smaller handbag which is pretty enough to be used when going out at night. Unbelievable, I know...

I quickly decided to make a rose petal bag since it has the perfect size and looks classy enough to be used for either shopping or for a night out. I decided to go with a neutral brown cotton fabric for the exterior, which has a slight pattern to it (I don't like plain... boring!). For the rose petals I used that same brown fabric (but I folded the petals so that the plain side would be the exterior side) and added a light pink plus three petals made of a salmon colored chevron fabric.

This is only the second rose petal bag I have made so far. It is really quick to sew up (I needed about 5 hours altogether, cutting and interfacing all fabric pieces included). Again I decided to go with Roc-Lon Multipurpose Cloth to interface the exterior fabric pieces. This material is awesome, even though it is very thin it gives the bag great body and the bag feels and looks really good! It in non-fusible, so I had to baste it onto the two main body panels and the flap before I could start assembling the bag. I usually don't baste along all edges but just at some spots, to keep the interfacing in place.

I really like this bag! The colors match nicely with my favorite dress which I am definitely going to bring on my trip. If you like what you see you can check out more rose petal bag designs in one of my previous blogposts. This bag is so versatile and works for so many styles, it is really fun to look at all the different designs.

So I will be off on my trip with my new bag, yay! This is my first vacation since February so I am really looking forward to it (my trip to Germany doesn't count. That was going home :)). Enjoy the rest of the summer everyone! Have you been on vacation this past summer? I would love to hear about it, so leave a comment if you like :)

After introducing my new "favorite" bag last week I am happy to finally announce the release of the sewing pattern, now available for instant download in my pattern store.

I decided to call this bag design "Liebling's bag". Liebling - as part of my label name - means "darling" in German but as an adjective it also has the meaning "favorite".
It is a medium sized bag and due to the hardware used for this design it will look super stylish and professional! There are gate rings at each end of the strap, which are then hooked into grommets on either top corner of the bag. (Gate rings are rings that snap open. For more information and a picture check out my previous blog post.) There is a zipper pocket on the back of the bag as well as a slip pocket and an elasticized pocket on the inside. Plenty of room for all your essentials!
The pdf file comes with 14 pages of instructions, 34 pictures and 2 full size pattern pieces. All measurements are given in centimeters and inches. The finished size of this bag is 26 x 30 x 7,5 cm / 10.25 x 12 x 3 in (height x width x depth).

Supplies needed:
- Exterior fabric: 1/2 m / 1/2 yd
- Lining fabric: 2/3 m / 2/3 yd
- Fusible interfacing e. g. Pellon 931 TD: 0,80 m / 1 yd
- Fusible fleece e.g. Pellon 987F: 36 cm / 14 in
   OR heavy stabilizer e. g. Pellon Peltex #71F: 3/4 m / 3/4 yd
- 1 zipper 20 cm (8 in) or longer
- 1 magnetic snap
- 4 grommets: 1,1 cm (7/16 in) diameter or slightly larger
- 2 gate rings (rings that snap open: 2,5 or 4 cm (1 or 1.5 in) diameter
- Elastic, 1 cm (3/8 in) wide: approx. 12 cm (4.75 in)

Here are two versions of the Liebling's bag which my testers have turned in (thanks for your support and your help, I appreciate it so much!):

Cara made this wonderful version! The gray and blue exterior fabric matches perfectly with the silver grommets and gate rings she used. The inner pockets, made of exterior fabric, make a nice contrast to the blue lining.

Sarah sent in this beautiful picture of her finished bag! The rock highlights the pattern of the exterior fabric very well. Sarah blogs at "Prairie Girl Knits", so check out her other projects as well!

If you like this bag design and want to make one yourself, head over to my pattern store where the pattern is available for instant download!
Happy sewing!