Carrying on

This month I stitched up my fourth version of a favourite messenger bag for children, which will be gifted to my youngest niece. I selected a mid weight denim for the main body of the bag, thinking that will make it durable and easy to care for (expecting that this bag will be taken on lots of  little girl adventures!).

The messenger bag pattern can be found in Liesl Gibson's book,

Oliver + S Little Things to Sew: 20 Classic Accessories and Toys for Children .

 The interior and all pockets were sewn from a delightful soft print in lighter weight quilting cotton, from the designer, Sarah Jane, that I found at a local fabric shop (which was a wonderful surprise and treat, considering this is from an older fabric line!). I added Pellon SF101 to all the pieces of the bag that used this balloon print - for the dual purpose of adding a little more support to the finish of the bag and to make sure the white background on this print, didn't get dulled by the denim.  Two thumbs up on succeeding on both counts!  This interfacing by Pellon is hands down, my favourite. The product is easy to use and very versatile (I use it in bag making and garment making - I love that it is a woven interfacing and all cotton).

 Bias binding was made from a sweet pastel pink stripe that cleanly finishes all the seams on the bag and is one of my favourite designs aspects to this bag. I LOVE self made bias binding! I have been making binding for years, all by hand, but this year, found a second hand bias tape maker machine, and happily put it into action for all the bias tape needed for this bag. This machine sped the process up!

I was able to personalize the bag by turning the print on the selvedge, into a fabric tag!

It just so happened that I had kept the selvedge of an older fabric line designed by the pattern's designer and book author, Liesl Gibson, that were PERFECT for turning into tags to add as details to the interior of my finished bag! (Check out the 2 photos above to see both tags.)

My final finishing touches? I modified the back of the bag's exterior to include an inset zippered pocket (bringing the total of pockets on the bag up to six!) and sewed on a sweet bunny fussy cut.

Bag hardware purchased from Emmaline Bags

Each time I have sewed one of these bags, I have been delighted with the results.

Curious to see my three other versions of this bag?  Go HERE and HERE and HERE.

The design is fabulous and the instructions ensure great results.  No wonder I keep returning to this pattern! Perhaps, one day in the future, I will be sewing the adult sized version of this bag for this wee niece and her sisters. 😉