Messanger Bag Project

Here is a project that has been in the works for a while. It’s a messenger bag I made for someone, to their specifications and using their fabric.



I did a mock up in calico first to test whether the bag was going to work and iron out any problems. Force of habit, we always had to test our patterns in calico at TAFE and then make adjustments. Of course that was for garments and we called them “toile's” but I do the same with whatever I make.


Bags can be pretty complex and there are always layers of fabric to sew through. Luckily my trusty Consew can sew through just about anything and this time I needed it to. I had interfacing and fusible wadding in the main bag to give it some body and webbing straps to sew through as well.

I only had a small amount of fabric to work with. It took me forever to work out how I was going to line up the stripes o the front of the bag and somehow get the little frog in a good position. I only seemed to have one repeat of the print, and half of it was a mirror image of the other so it was a little difficult, but I managed to pull it off okay in the end. If you look closely you can see a climbing frog on the upper left and lower right corners.