The SewBad "Bonnie" Bag

I have another birthday party to go to and a new pattern to try! We picked up The "Bonnie" Bag pattern by Abbey Lane at Quitcon 2015 in Pasadena.  I think this will be the perfect bag for my longtime bestie.  With the right fabric choices, I really hope you'll be able to get a feel for her fun personality. 

I was able to use focal fabric's from my stash, which I love. Actually the black polka dot with skulls was also a find from Quiltcon. (Cotton + Steel) It's a good one!  I usually package my fabric by project and not by color.  I keep everything tidy and together in Jumbo Hefty storage sliders, basically a giant ziplock bag.  That way when I'm hunting for something, everything is see through and I can normally find what I'm looking for pretty quickly.  It works for me!  

Back to the pattern.  It calls for a canvas lining which will give the bag a nice weight and it's necessary for the magnetic button - otherwise that button would pull right through the fabric.

When gathering, I stop sewing before and after the seams.  I wrap the thread on each side like I'm tying off a boat that might drift out to sea!  I don't want my gathers slippin'.  I think I just do this because that's what I was taught in Jr. High so I'll leave that up to you!

Gather the sides to fit around the base.

You make the inside panel, then the outside, then you marry them together at the end.

Inside view.  Pam loves black, white and red.  The gold is the cherry on top!  The large printed skull and cross bones is a little too flashy for the outside of the bag but makes a fun lining.  Plus, red pockets!  She's going to love it!

This is the outside, same process, gathering the sides to fit around the base.

Flip it right sides out, I kinda love the way that looks!

You can't really tell but some of the dots are silvery, another bonus point for the fun fabric tally!  

For the handles, I deviated a little from the pattern and used just canvas.  (I had it and it worked!)

Be sure to spend the time to line up the stripes. It'll just look nicer.  The devil is in the details!

I married the two together, one inside the other with a 1/2" fold, stuck the handles in and sewed around the rim at 1/8" and 1/4".  I sewed on a red bow for a pop of color on the outside and we are done!

View looking in.

All the different fabric patterns all play nicely together.  It's so her!

I couldn't resist one last little detail...

I love it!

• Abbey Lane ended up reaching out to us asking for some pictures with me holding it.  :) So we had some fun on a mini photo shoot!  I hope you enjoy them!