This past summer, three of my English students went to summer school in Hawaii for a month. They brought me back little gifts, as is custom in Japan. One of the girls brought me a small LeSportsac pouch with a Hawaiian print.
I quickly found that this pouch was the perfect size to hold all of my essentials - phone, wallet, keys, emergency lollipop, and a lip gloss. It is constantly filled with my essentials and I either grab it before heading out the door on a quick trip or drop it into my purse for a longer outing. I love it for the latter, and for when I run to the shop solo, but if K is with me holding the pouch poses problems. It's difficult to hold a bag or two of groceries and the pouch while chasing after K whizzing home on his bike. Same for when we go out to the courtyard or the park to play. All are close enough that I don't need to bring a serious bag with me - if K has an "accident" we can just run back. (Homey's batting 1000 on no accidents, so knock on wood that I didn't just jinx this!!)
What this little pouch needed was a strap to go around my wrist!
After buying all of those curtain-weight fabrics, I knew my first project with them would be a new pouch - with a strap. I really loved the white fabric with crosses that I showed in that post, but I knew it would get filthy and I would get sad. Instead I opted for the same pattern, but in a yellow. I chose green raw silk-looking fabric for the inner, but didn't have enough, so I had to also use a gold in the same fabric for the zipper bits. I was a bit bummed, but you hardly see that part, so I figured it's ok.
I measured the original pouch and made a pattern. I got pretty close to the exact size, I think. It still holds all of the essentials. I was scared to construct it since I'm pretty sure this was my first time doing such a thing. Usually I either follow some pattern/tutorial or just wing it completely. I think this is my first knock-off.
I started by getting all the bits sewed together - the pocket (a new addition - K is a jumper so my mom suggested I always carry a butterfly band-aid with me, it will go here), then attached it to the lining, the strap, the side bits, the zipper, and finally I basted the lining and outside of the main bag together.
Then I nervously sewed the zipper to the bag on one side only. Eeek! It seemed it was working.
Then I sewed the other side, and finally the ends of the zipper to the "base" of the main bag, slipping the strap into one end.
Next I sewed the side bits (little squares that hold the bag together so that it can't open all the way) on - one side, then the other, then the bottom, which had to be folded a bit. I wanted the bag to open a bit wider than the original, so I knew this would be a small issue.
At this point, I had a bag! And I totally regretted not zigzagging the edges as my bag started to get really hairy at this point.
I gave it a trim and then busted out the bias tape. Every time I work with bias tape, it makes me crazy. I'm such crap at doing it well. Then I get all nervous, and I'm pretty sure that makes it worse. The bottom bits proved to be a challenge and it shows. I'm ok with it though - I doubt many people will inspect it that closely, especially the inside.
In the end, my knock-off totally worked!! I love it. Trips to the park just got a million times easier!
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