The Elinor Bag

When my parents were on vacation last summer, my mom found a pattern for a Very Cute bag. She liked it so much, that she bought the pattern for me. I purchased the fabric for the bag with a gift certificate that Benjamin got for me to buy some fabric at our local quilt shop. I have been hanging on to this project, waiting until I had some other projects finished before starting it. Last week I was finally able to make my long-planned bag. I was oh, so pleased with the results. I love the vintage-look lily of the valley print, and I love that this bag will go with my brown shoes or my black ones.

I also love all the customized pockets; I have a special pocket for everything I usually carry in my purse. No more digging around in the bottom of my purse searching for the chapstick! The only problem, if it can be called that, is all the extra space. For a few minutes I wondered what I was going to do with it since I had pockets for everything I carry in my purse.

I didn't wonder for long! In went some diapers, a spare sleeper, a couple of burp cloths, and the necessary snacks. Voila! I had a perfect purse/diaper bag combination!

I have made quite a few bags before, but I learned several new and very helpful things as I followed the pattern for this one. One thing is the value of Pelon Fusible Fleece. It is marvelous for adding a little substance to a bag without making it bulky! I am sure I will be using it again and again. I also learned how to make boxy corners. All of my previous bags had two dimensional corners; this one's corners are three dimensional. I have already used this knowledge for another bag (more on it later) and hope to use it for many more bags in the future.

Little Man enjoys helping me sew. He likes sitting next to me, playing with my pin cushion, and handing me pins as I need them. Sometimes he even is still enough to sit on my lap and watch me sew (he especially likes watching button holes be made). And sometimes he is just plain goofy-fun, as I managed to capture with my camera.