Thinking Spring Bag!

I know for most of the United States, it is still winter. Well, here in Vegas it got up to 74 degrees today. That warm weather put me in the mood to make a bag for spring. When thinking about what fabric to use for this bag, I decided to go outside of my box. In general, I stay with "matchy matchy" fabrics or I stay with the same designer for the fabrics. But, today I went over to my stash and just picked what jumped out at me...

Well, these are the five fabrics that I picked. Totally looks like spring to me! On a normal day, I would pick all Heather Bailey, or all yellows, but not today.

For the style bag that I want to make, I don't use a pattern. The bag is generally a rectangle, so I just started cutting rectangles.  

I knew that I wanted to use the yellow gingham and yellow toile for the main body of the bag. But, the front and back needed a "punch". 

So, I decided on a red ruffle going across the bag where the gingham and toile meet. 

While I loved the red ruffle, it needed one more layer.  

This was the fabric that I picked for the lining of the bag. I would also use the yellow gingham for the pockets on the inside of the bag.

Ready? After cutting and sewing for a bit...this is what the fabric transformed into... 

I LOVE IT! I totally think that this bag looks like spring! I decided against a magnetic snap for the closure, and opted for cute red with white polka dot ribbon for the closure.  

I used bamboo handles and made 5 interior pockets and 2 pen or pencil pockets on the inside.

Here is a quick view of the interior fabrics.  

This bag is very sturdy. I used not only fleece interfacing, regular weight interfacing, but I also used duck cloth as an interfacing making the bag very sturdy. So sturdy in fact, I went through 3 needles just putting the top stitching on!

I use this style bag everyday for work. It is a great bag for church too! This bag is approximately 15 inches wide, 10 inches tall and 2.5 inches wide. The bamboo handles are 10 inches wide.

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER THE CURRENT GIVEAWAY!
This giveaway closes Sunday night!
Click HERE to enter to win the Be My Valentine blocks!