Four days before we were due to leave for Arizona I decided that I absolutely positively had to have a new bag for the trip. I like the purse I've been carrying for the past couple of years, but I can't hike with it and I hate leaving it in the car and I won't go two weeks without some kind of purse.
On our last two trips, I carried my wallet and camera in the Nancy Drew bag. It worked, but I don't like having my wallet in an open top bag. Even though I know it's not likely to fall out on its own (it's hard enough to dig from the bottom when I need it), I still wished I had a zipper.
What I really needed was a lightweight bag, about the size of my red purse, with a strap long enough to wear across my chest. So I made one.
The first battle was to choose fabric. I knew I wasn't going to have time to include every detail I wanted or to learn new tricks, so the fabric I'd already chosen for my dream purse was out. I did some digging and some thinking and wound up using the one fabric I'd absolutely ruled out as a potential tote bag.
I measured the existing red purse and added a couple of inches on each side to make up for boxing the bottom (see -- I learn from my mistakes!) Then I made myself a zippered pouch and boxed the corners a bit. There are some elements I love and some that didn't turn out quite right (especially the way the zipper lays) but overall it's not bad for a couple of hours of work.
After living with it for two weeks, I'm absolutely in love with this circus print. It got soaked completely through at Montezuma's Castle and covered with cinders on the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and still did everything I needed it to do. The strap is wide enough not to dig into my shoulder too much, even after a couple of extra water bottles put an end to my "keep it as light as possible" strategy. I can tie a knot to shorten it for hanging on a chair back.
Not bad for a spur of the moment project that I made up on the fly!
This post is linked to Crazy Mom Quilts, Busy Hands Quilts
A new bag is always such a treat!
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