My 'too cool for school satchel'

We had a nasty grey, wet day yesterday that I thought it was best to stay indoors and do some sewing. I got to work on my 'too cool for school satchel' for the Fall for Cotton challenge, and flew through the construction.  

This is the second project I have made from Lisa Lam's A bag for all reasons the first being my fabulous bike panniers. As with that project, the instructions were very clear, all the techniques needed were explained clearly and there are lots of helpful construction photographs.

The only change I made to the bag was in the closures. The pattern used side release buckles, with tabs made from the bag fabric. I really wanted buckled fasteners, and found some beautiful purple leather buckles on-line, from Bag Clasps. They have the buckles in a range of lovely colours, as well as bag straps, and other bag clasps, as the name suggests! 

In the pattern the clasps are added early on, but because mine were a different size and need to be hand-sewn, I left adding them until the end. The leather parts of the buckle come with pre-perforated holes for ease of sewing.

This was a quick project, I had the pieces cut and interfaced already, and sewing the bag took only a couple of hours. The part I found hardest was sewing the buckles on, I don't like hand sewing and it took a couple of attempts to get the placement right.

All in all, I love my new bag, and I think it will get a lot of use. (My previous bag died a couple of weeks ago, although I was able to salvage the D-rings and slider from the strap to use in this project.) It's a good size, and with the front pocket, should mean that I won't loose my keys in the bottom of the bag :)

It is only recently that I have turned my sewing skills towards making bags, I don't know why it has taken me so long. The range of patterns is really good, and it is great to make something that can have a lot of use.

 

In other news, you can see a sneak peak of my new Colinette on its first official outing (post to follow soon) and the Great British Bake Off is back on the telly. As always it makes me want to bake. In between sewing this bag, I made a batch of pastry for some Danish pastries, which I've never made before. For a first attempt it turn of pretty well, and we had lemon and lime pastries for coffee time - yummy!