OOOOH! Squee! I am in LOOOOOOVE. My new bag is exactly what I want, and I just whipped this final puppy up in about an hour (not including cutting, which might have taken almost 1/2 an hour).
Simple and clean and FUNCTIONAL and (if I do say so myself) CUTE!!! Here it is empty:
It’s still a tad stiff, it definitely needs to be broken in a bit, and the pins attaching the bag straps to the handles need to be replaced with BIG HUGE shiny gold (to match the metal zipper) O-rings, (hopefully Home Depot will have what I want?)
but it’s a perfect bag.
That’s my old bag (still full) stuffed inside the new one. (also my old iphone and a pen showing off the interior pockets. there’s a zip pocket on the side closest to the camera, but I couldn’t photograph both sides clearly). The new one is super roomy thanks to the curved and bagged bottom. The leather version is going to have bag feet, too, but this one didn’t need them. it’s washable cotton, after all. (BTW, the lining is some cheapo red fabric that I bought a whole bolt of at a thrift store for like 3 bucks, and am still working through. I wanted something light and not busy for the lining, and this totally works)
here’s the bag exterior, unzipped, crammed with my old bag. The fabric needs to soften and slouch a bit, but it’s still got a great shape, right?
and here it is all zipped up (and full.) I really like the spiky-up corners. hopefully the middle will slouch more as time goes on, but the metal zipper is REALLY stiff. I wouldn’t have tried a metal zip, except that I’ve had this particular one for like 9 years, and never used it, and I just wanted it OUT of my zipper box.
I’m not going to cut into the leather tonight, because it’s too pricy, and I need to think about cutting layout on the piece I have, so I think I’m going to go work on my TTC quilt some more (shocking, right?)