You Sew, Girl! | Large Tote 01 - the front of the tote
I made this bag at Nicole Mallalieu’s Bag In A Day class that I’d signed up for only three days earlier. I did a mad rush around looking through my piles of fabrics, found nothing I wanted to use, then did a dash round to a couple of shops to find fabric and lining.
You Sew, Girl! | Large Tote 01 - the back of the tote
I’d chosen a gorgeous Liberty fabric for the lining to match this Echino print, but Nikki thought Liberty was too fine a fabric for a tote that would receive a fair amount of “traffic”, so I had to fish around in my cupboard to find something else that would match.
You Sew, Girl! | Large Tote 01 - magnetic clasp
I’m not entirely delighted with this bag, I reckon my next one will be technically better, this was more of a “practice run”. I also think I would have been happier with it if I had gone with the Liberty print, instead of the Alexander Henry butterfly fabric, but that’s why I’ve given this tote such a boring old name, and numbered it “01″.
You Sew, Girl! | Large Tote 01 - front interior pockets. I added these to the design.
That’s right – there’ll be more! The really great thing about this bag is that I learned a lot about this type of bag construction.
You Sew, Girl! | Large Tote 01 - zippered pocket
Apart from the fact that her designs and instructions are of such a high standard, Nikki is a really great teacher, and I learned a bagfull of invaluable tips and techniques for putting in a magnetic clasp, putting in a fast2fuse base, a new way of sewing in a zippered pocket, and so much more.
You Sew, Girl! | Large Tote 01 - gorgeous shiny hardware
I think next time, I’ll use oblong rings instead of the large circles. I do love them, but I think it’d give a more professional finish to use the same shape as the slide. I took my tote out for a test run yesterday, and it is a very comfortable bag to use. You can get your own copy of the pattern here, but not for long. Nikki’s going wholesale only in 2012.
