So i’ve been sewing for a bit now. I have come up with some pretty adorable outfits for my daughter, a few accessories and home decor projects here and every time I would finish something like that the hubs would jokingly say how I never made anything for him. I really hadn’t made too much for myself either. Sewing for babies is so much easier. and they are far less critical (at least they can’t tell you when something doesn’t look right haha). He has been after me to make him a messenger bag for awhile now. I started it probably a few weeks ago. I would work on it in small increments to build up my confidence. If something didn’t go right I had to walk away so I didn’t get more frustrated and ruin it. Needless to say, I took A LOT of breaks! I used this basic tutorial and tweaked it to fit his needs as far as pockets and such. He needed a padded place for his laptop, pockets for his nook and notepad, places for cords, business cards and pens. I used a black duck cloth I got from walmart’s pre-cut fabric section, 2 yards for 7.97! I got some fusible fleece at Hobby Lobby using my 40% coupon, 1 yard for under $5. I got the strap on clearance at Hancocks for $1 a yard. I had some pre-quilted material on hand for the padded laptop pocket from when he tried to make his own bag several years ago (thats also where I got the zipper for the front pocket and parachute clips for the flap closure). The hardest thing to find was the tri-slide bar for the adjustable strap, no craft/fabric store carried them in the 2″ size I was looking for so I got some off ebay. Overall, It was a great learning experience. While it’s not perfect, I learned a lot and I’m pretty happy with the outcome. Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think…. unless you don’t think it’s good, then don’t. ha.
and to break up the monotony of pictures of my amazing sewing skills…….
imperfectly courtney 