Monday, August 12, 2013

The Smart Messenger Bag

Recently, I had the pleasure of testing a pattern for Anna at charmed Liebling.  The name of the pattern is The Smart Messenger Bag, of course!

This bag turned out great!



When I first saw Anna's pattern, I knew that I wanted to make this bag for myself, and I wanted to use laminate (like Anna had).  I figured that it would be the perfect bag to start the school year!  Then, as I was making the bag, I went through a period of indecision...  As  I started cutting, I thought the bag was going to be too small and I was a bit disappointed and discouraged just because I thought I would have to sell the bag or do a giveaway, since I didn't think it would fill my work need.  But, I kept sewing and in the end all turned out well!

I love that is has the little zip pocket on the front.  When I travel from school to school, I am always losing my keys in the depths of my bag.  Now, problem solved!  Plus, I can stick my phone in there, especially on the days when it is raining.

The bag came together fairly quickly, too.  The most time consuming part was fusing the interfacing and the fleece to the different pieces, and that had more to do with the fact that I really had to be careful because I was using laminate!





Before this bag, I had never sewn a whole bag with laminate.  I have to say, it was a bit fiddly.  You can't pin it, unless you want a bunch of random pin holes in your bag.  Lucky for me, I have about 30 of those small Clover clips.  (p.s. the price I saw when I just posted this link, $13 is an awesome price!) The trouble that I ran into when I was using the laminate was when I was top stitching.  I'm a bit particular about my top stitching and I want it to be just-so.  Typically, I have a blind hem stitch foot that I like to use for top stitching because then my sewing isn't at all wiggly... it gives a very professional finish.  Well, laminate sticks to regular sewing feet.  I already had a Teflon foot, which helped, but then the bottom laminate layer would stick to my table!  I had to hold up the bottom layer so it would stick and that did help.

In the end, my bag turned out awesome and I'm looking forward to using it as I head back to work on Thursday!


17 comments:

SkippyMom said...

That bag is just gorgeous.

I dont' understand what you mean by the laminate tho'? Is that found inside of the bag? I understand what laminate is, but I have never sewn with it before.

Enjoy your bag. And yes, that IS the perfect little pocket. I do the same thing with my keys and phone.

Anonymous said...

It's really CUTE! You did a great job with the sewing.

Ellyn said...

what a cute bag! Great job

Sandra :) said...

That's a great bag - you're very brave to do a new-to-you project in laminate - that stuff intimidates me, lol!

Anna @ charmed Liebling said...

That is one awesome bag Sally! I am glad you had fun testing my pattern, thanks so much for your feedback :)

Samantha said...

Great bag Sally, you're a busy bee this month!!!

My teflon foot farts. It makes me giggle because I'm very mature :)

nissaMade said...

Awesome job! I tested this too, it's a nice bag!

ChrisW Designs said...

Very pretty bag! :)

ChrisW Designs said...

Very pretty bag! :)

ChrisW Designs said...

Very pretty bag! :)

ChrisW Designs said...

Very pretty bag! :)

ChrisW Designs said...

Very pretty bag! :)

Trae Flesher said...

It looks great! And, this is such encouragement to me to FOLLOW THROUGH! I have more than a few things that didn't look right during the process and I just gave up on them...tsk!

Emily said...

awesome bag Sally! I didn't know you used laminate, cool!

CATHY DANIEL said...

Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving such a nice comment, and prompting me to visit you. Your bag is lovely - I love messenger bags anyway, so a handmade one like that is brilliant! xCathy

Anonymous said...

it's fantastic!! have a great start to school-
:)

Brenda said...

Love the bag. I may have to make one of those.