I love smaller handbags and I was looking for a casual yet sophisticated design, a bag that you can carry everyday but which is also posh enough to be used as an evening bag when going out. This is what I came up with!
The bag measures 18 x 27 x 6 cm / 7 x 10.5 x 2.5" (height x width x depth).
The flap has an asymmetric shape with a beautiful fabric rose on the broader part. The bag closes with a magnetic snap.
The fabric looks like a denim but is actually a lightweight quilting fabric! I love the dark blue color since it is easy to pair up with almost all your clothes.
Inside the bag there is a 8 cm (17") zip pocket and two slip pockets of different sizes.
The strap takes up the asymmetric shape of the flap. It is 3 cm (1 1/8") wide at the very top and tapers towards the ends, which are 1,5 cm (0.5") wide and connected to the bag with rectangular rings.
Sharon, a follower of my blog introduced me to a product I hadn't heard of so far: it is called Roc-lon Multi-Purpose Cloth and distributed by Rockland Industries. Apparently you can use it for all kinds of crafts, not only for sewing. Sharon was kind enough to send me a sample of the product and I was eager to try it out (Sharon, thanks again)! So far, I have used Decovil and By Annie's Soft and Stable to interface my bags (and of course fusible fleece and heavy stabilizer by Pellon) but for this kind of bag I have to say the Multi-Purpose cloth was perfect! It is not fusible, so I had to baste it onto the main body fabric parts before assembing the bag. It is sturdy but bendable and therefore easy to handle, especially when you sew curves or edges.
Let me know if you are interested in learning more about the Multi-Purpose Cloth, then I would write a separate blog post about it.
And here's for all my fellow sewing addicts who might want to make one of these bags themselves: I am currently working on the sewing pattern for this bag, which will probably be released mid August!
How do you like this new design?