Sewn: Amelie Bag

I fancied making an Autumnal bag and turned to the Amelie bag pattern in Tanya Whelan's Sew What You Love. I opted for the larger size because small bags aren't all that practical for me anymore (I need to fit in my purse, phone, a large diary, a reading book and usually lunch too)! This is also my Wilderness entry for this month's Le Challenge - as it combines a selection of wildlife/nature fabric.

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that I am a great believer in making things work with the materials that I have to hand, so instead of using an interfacing for this bag I used quilting batting which was going spare. I am really glad I went for this option as it feels so much sturdier than interfacing alone would.

You may recognise this fabric from my second pair of pyjama trousers - foxy! I added a tiny strip of top stitching detail on one side of the bag just to hold all the layers together.

I also altered the internal pocket - the pattern shows it divided into two pockets. but the size of phones these days are getting bigger so I left mine as one. The additional fabrics used are remnants from the Hello Bear cot quilt that I made.

The instructions for the bag were mostly very straightforward, but I really didn't understand how the straps were meant to fit to the main bag pieces, and I probably made it harder for myself with the additional thickness of the quilt batting. As a result, one side of the bag looks much neater than the other. Part of me thinks I will unpick it and start again, but I will wait until I have used it more and see if it still bothers me, I think!

My final departure from the pattern was to add some topstitching around the top of the bag, mainly because I think it looks better that way.

If you are interested in joining in Le Challenge, a new theme is announced in the middle of each month. Check out all the other entries here:

Love Mrs Jones x