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Outback Wife Elaine Barkcloth Messenger Bag

My most recent sewing project finish is a Messenger Bag in a beautiful blue barkcloth fabric called Elaine. This fabric is from the Outback Wife collection by Gertrude Made for Ella Blue.

This bag has three mods that I'll go over in more detail below.  But here are the main ways it differs from the pattern:

1. Magnetic Snaps
2. Zipper Pocket
3. Hanging Loop

Making the Messenger Bag into a Wristlet

 
This has been done for a few weeks, but once it was done I decided it needed a thicker wristlet strap.  Which meant getting a bigger swivel clip, so this project had to wait for a bit.  Then last week the larger clips arrived (along with some other hardware) and wow, they seemed huge! I wasn't quite sure how I felt about them at first, but by the time the new strap was sewn the clips had grown on me. 

Here the details:

• This was made using the Messenger Bag pattern, but without the cross body strap and with a wider flap (see next bullet point).  After many times of just carrying this bag when running quick errands, it dawned on me in some instances this bag would be better without the cross body strap.  The long strap is perfect for when you are walking around a lot, but if you are putting the bag down frequently, the strap becomes more of a hindrance than a benefit!  This is big for a handbag, so if you make this into a wristlet don't carry it around dangling from the strap.  It's just too heavy and the wristlet strap should only be used for securing the bag to you.  
• An extra 0.5" (13mm) was added to the cut on fold side of the flap piece.  The sides of the bag have some room for the cross body strap, but that's not necessary if you make it as a wristlet. 

• This one has the zippered front pocket from this tutorial.  A link to this tutorial has also been added to the sidebar to the right.
• The fabric for this bag is this Sevenberry cotton/linen.  This is nice fabric and easy to work with, but it is heavily surface dyed, so expect some spots where the dye flakes off or didn't take to the fabric.  Of course, the polka dots also hide these imperfections fairly well, so this is not a big deal.

• A few of these large swivel clips are available here in my etsy shop.  The strap fabric piece is 4.25" wide x 15.5" long (11cm x 39.5cm).  The footing is 4" wide x 4" high (10cm x 10cm) and the D-ring has a 1" (25mm) opening. 

 

 

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Destash Magnetic Snaps

Today I have some of the prong style magnetic snaps to destash.  These are 14mm snaps in a soft brass color. 

They are available in my etsy shop in sets of 10.  See them here.

Patchwork Leash Tutorial on IG

Earlier in the month I did a tutorial for this leash on Instagram.  Someone suggested adding a unique hashtag for the tutorial to make it easy to find the photos.  So today I added #patchworkleash to all the tutorial photos. 

The swivel clips used for the leash can be found can be at the links below.  These work really well because of the flat ends.

• black
• nickel
• antique brass

Tuck Catch Clearance

I just got a bunch more nickel tuck catches, but have come to the conclusion they aren't something I can continue to keep on hand.  Having a few is fine, but I don't have the space for them in bulk. 

They have all been marked down 50%. 

• Small Nickel Tuck Catches
• Medium Nickel Tuck Catches
• Large Antique Brass Tuck Catch

They are really neat pieces of hardware, so I'll try a pre-sale them in the future. 

If you like them you can sign up (or update your profile) for the "hardware" email list.  Then the next time I order hardware you'll get a quick email letting you know tuck catches are available for pre-order.  I'll also try pre-selling turn locks--which are also wonderful, but not efficient for me to store as inventory. 

If you've wanted to try out a tuck catch, now is the perfect time!

Patchwork Leash + Swivel Hooks Back in Stock

Last week some more swivel clips arrived.  These are perfect for leashes! 

This is the second patchwork leash I've made and they turn out so cute.  Next week I will probably make another and share a tutorial for it via Instagram. 

On Friday I did a tutorial on IG for a fabric plant hanger thing (not sure what to call it..) and it was fun. 

Doing a tutorial on IG has some limitations, but I enjoyed it and plan to do it again.  There isn't a way to link directly to the tutorial photos, but you can see them in my stream here.  They are dated 5/30/14. 

Anyway, back to the clips...these are available in 3 different finishes in the 1" size:

1" Black Swivel Clips

1" Antique Brass Swivel Clip

1" Nickel Swivel Clips