Bagged

I’m not as far ahead as I was last year, but I have two Christmas presents finished – the two for my co-workers. I finished them last week, but I just haven’t had time since then to blog. In fact, this month has been its usual craziness and I haven’t had a chance in weeks. Every time I sit down to write a post, something comes up. Often it’s Rusty, who insists on cuddling whenever I’m sitting at the computer. He doesn’t sit on my lap – he crawls into my arms, making it really difficult to type. My Monkey used to do the same – it this a boy cat trait? – and I had to perfect the ability to type with one hand (I’ve been a touch typist for 40 years!), but it’s still a slow way of typing. Right now the door to the computer room is closed and there are no cats in here.

We’re still making bags for my co-workers. Last year I made a shoulder bag for my boss and a zipper pouch for our front desk gal. This year I did the reverse. They both love (and have) kitties almost as much as I do, so I made sure the felines were front and centre. I bought this lovely Timeless Treasures fabric while I was in Fort St. John this past summer. I love the muted grays and oranges, and I think she will, too. The body of the hipster bag was a remnant I bought, and they didn’t identify what it was. It isn’t cotton, but I love the look and feel of it.

The pattern was a free one that I found on the internet by Vibrant Designs, from 2011, but it’s gone. Now that I’d like to share it with you, about four weeks after I’d found it, there’s just an annoying “placeholder” at the site where it used to be. But I have a PDF of it, if anyone would like a copy.

I’ve changed the strap attachment a bit, because I couldn’t quite understand how the pattern attached the strap, so that’s a tiny bit different (hence the metal rings), but the rest is the same. Well, except for the pocket on the back. I didn’t do a very good job of it, but it’s not bad. Better than I used to do. And I got the zipper in and working in one shot. I’m rather proud of myself.

The squared bottom was a bit of a problem because of the many layers of fabric caused by the pocket in front. I usually trim away the fusible fleece so I don’t sew over it, but I guess I got sort of lazy this time. One side refused to “square” so I had to unstitch it and then trim all of the excess fleece and fabric away and then restitch it. Thankfully, the offending corner wasn’t too far from where I had my seam opening, so I could access it relatively easily for repairs and didn’t have to unstitch the whole thing.

I would rather have had the zipper opening towards the other end, but that wasn’t a big enough deal to redo any part of it. And I think it I make another one of these, I would make the front pocket a little shorter. Next on my To Do List are a few catnip mice to include with my gifts – can’t ignore the kitties! If I have time later on this week, I’ll show you the other gift.

Until then,