A not-so-little something.

A few months ago, just before my birthday, I came across this tutorial for an awesome zip bag made from printed fabric.  I HAD to have one, so I ordered a fat quarter of the fabric from Spoonflower as a birthday gift to myself.  I haven't had much energy or time for sewing this week, but I did manage to cut this project out on Wednesday, and sew it together yesterday.

I did a few things differently on my bag from the tutorial.  I had my fabric printed onto organic cotton sateen, which has a lovely sheen but is quite thin.  To give my bag a bit more heft, I used fusible fleece on the outer rather than regular interfacing.  The added weight also helped because I used my leftover orange lining fabric for the inside.

I used a nylon zipper because the colors are more fun and I hate metal zippers on bags - they always ding up my nails!  After I finished the bag I felt like it needed a little some thing more, so I popped on one of my tassel keyrings.

At 9" x 14", this bag is quite a bit bigger than the ones I usually make.  I think I like it though, although obviously I haven't had a chance to carry it around yet.  Doesn't it just say "Summer?!"

Because of the way the fabric was printed, the palm trees on the front are a bit taller than those on the back.

The corners on the bag are boxed:

I have a pretty sizable piece of that matte black sequin fabric left.  I'm thinking it will make a great bag, using this pattern.   But for that I probably will have to cut the sequins out of the seam allowances, so it will be a project for another time.