Bag of the Month 2015 – January

This year I signed up to the Bag of the Month Club, where you receive a new bag sewing pattern every month from January to June. The bags from last years club looked really good and I thought it would be a way to try out patterns that I possibly wouldn’t have chosen had I seen them beforehand.

January’s bag was called the Companion Carpet Bag, designed by Sewing Patterns by Mrs H. I did actually start it in January, but saved it for my sister’s birthday in March, and then we went away for a month, and somehow the photos have only just made their way from the camera and onto the laptop ready to be uploaded!

I chose an upholstery weight spotty fabric to make it in that has been in the cupboard for several years waiting to be made into something. There is a layer of fleece inside to give it shape which I quilted in place first. It is lined with cotton and contains a layer of plastic canvas at the bottom to make a rigid base.

The handles are leather and were bought ready made. I sewed them on by hand with extra strong black thread.

I like the frame that is the main feature of this bag. It opens so you can see everything inside. It stays open when you open it, and stays closed when it’s shut! It was actually a lot easier to install than I was expecting, although it did take two of us to hold it and screw the little screws back in once we’d slotted it into the channel!