Not Your Average Tote Bag

 After 4 years I am a little bit over my old, rectangle tote bag. It is still my favorite thing to simply throw my wallet, phone and keys into when we venture out of our house on foot to enjoy our neighborhood. But the style is super boring and one side has a small hole in it where the lining is showing through. So I endeavored to make a new bag that suits the same purpose, but has more style.

Thanks to the wonderful Memorial Day sales, I was able to add a few new fabrics to my collection, including 4 new prints from Peackock Lane by Victoria Craft for Michael Miller. I got these for $4.99 a yard at The Quilted Castle. And you haven't missed anything; they are still having a "Blowout Sale"...and what fabric hoarder doesn't like the sound of that?!

But back to the bag. I found a nice pattern in One Yard Wonders called the Flouncy Bag. I used the fabric measurements but the instructions totally lost me, so I set the book aside and simply did it my way. Everything worked out as I had hoped as I constructed the bag. The flouncy body of the bag is really cute. The lining is not flouncy however, so nothing will get lost inside. I sewed a simple button onto the band so I can tell which side is the front (not that it matters). The strap is attached on both sides through a D ring. This adds some hardware to the bag, but the straps isn't adjustable. It's sewn to the rings on each side with a pleat in the middle because I wanted the strap to be wide for comfort over the shoulder and to show off the elephants and peacocks on the fabric. You can't see the elephants in the pictures above because I folded up the strap for the pictures (my dress form is a size 2 toddler). At this point, you should click through using the Peacock Lane link above to see how really beautiful this fabric is and to get your own before it's gone!

And the bag just happens to match my favorite Pumas!