Sidekick Tote

(Winners of the gaming giveaway announced here)

Trying to keep up with myself is sometimes tricky; at the end of last month I briefly mentioned something I’d made during the month suggesting that I’d share it shortly.  Whoops, it’s a few weeks later, I’ve used this almost every day and still not shared it here!

So I made myself a Sidekick Tote, it’s a pattern by Anna of Noodlehead, let’s be honest here she writes great patterns.  I’ve made the 241 bag, the Runaround bag and a few Gathered Clutches.  I had no doubt therefore that this would be a good if not great pattern.

I bought the pattern last November and did nothing, then Hadley made one and it reminded me that I had the pattern and could do with a bag smaller than the 241 and one I was able to wear across the body.

I had a rummage through my stash to discover that I don’t have many solid fabrics and certainly nothing I wanted to use for this bag.  My feeling was that it would look good in a solid or not too busy print.  I then pulled out scraps of this scooter print, I’d already pieced the small pattern so had an idea of just how much fabric I would need.  With careful use of my ‘scraps’ I was able to get all the exterior pieces out of the fabric I had and match the pattern too.  Ok so I knew from the outset there was no way would there be enough for a strap but I could live with that.

The bag came together really well, I chose Kaleidoscope Dots in Olive from Amy Butlers Daisy Chain line, the interior pocket is Pebbles in Teal from Valori Wells Jenaveve cotton linen line.

I did have to take a trip to my local fabric shop for a zip in a suitable colour and length, while I was there I asked about webbing for straps and was delighted that not only did they have some it was of a good width and weight (some places seem to sell a heavier weight twill tape as webbing, I’m not convinced it would work for a bag strap).

The bag is a great size, it’s the small version but plenty big enough for things I carry around on a day to day basis, purse, keys, sunglasses, small umbrella (ok I don’t carry that around every day but in this country maybe I should!