Current mood:

busy

The Ultimate Craft Tote....
Let me start by saying that the Amy Butler pattern I used for this bag was so fun to use. The instructions were very clear and I didn't really encounter any major problems.

I had grown very tired of carrying all of my stuff around in one of those canvas grocery bags. I liked the size of it, but it didn't have enough pockets and it wasn't pretty at all. My new handmade tote has tons of pockets and the instructions call for 5 different coordinating fabrics which I had in my stash.


This is the back of the bag which I actually use as the front


This is the front of the bag which has a foldout tool holder that looks like this when open:



I love my bag and I've been using every day since I got it. There is a "but" though :\ I don't have much use for the tool holder. I put my biggest needles in it just for show, but the truth is that if I ever felt the need to have all of my big needles in there, doing so would add extra weight and I would be dropping needles out of the sides of this pocket. You'll see that in addition to the holder, theres' also very long pockets along the bottom flap which are also open to side droppage. I thought about adding some velcro along the sides, but for now I might just keep it closed until I feel the need to fill it. I put a couple of pens in there and one fell out as soon as I got to work today.

Now that I know how easy this bag was to make, I might make a second one using the green/brown/turquoise fabrics I got during my last visit to Bobbin's Nest! I would customize the pattern to create pockets more suitable to my needs. I was thinking of making something like a foldout knitting/crochet pattern holder instead of the long pockets on the flap. I would have to add about an inch to the flap which means I'd also have to take an ich off of that top front pocket. I could live with that! Instead of the tool holding ribbon part I could have it be a large flat panel pocket that would fit a magazine...that shouldn't be too hard to do, right? ;)