firefly tote prototype

This weekend I had a hankering to sew. And I wanted to sew a very particular thing - a project bag pattern I bought in March while enjoying the Bay Area Yarn Crawl. I had in mind that I would make this for a friend of mine, and if it didn't turn out I would keep it for myself because we share a love of the same colors and these fabrics are awesome together! (spoiler: it turned out great.)

I had such a fun time auditioning different fabric combinations and settled on the set above. The combination of earthy blues and greens will appeal to my friend, I think, and the gray canvas is a very sturdy option for the bag's main panels. 

The pattern is the Firefly Tote by Noodlehead Designs, and I've had it sitting around, as I said, since March. In a recent (habitual) YouTube binge, I found a video tutorial in three parts where the designer steps through the construction for a sew along she put together. This was a great find, because I was feeling intimidated by the pattern instructions which looked much more complex to me than it actually ended up being. I've said it before - I am a very visual learner. The videos really lowered the activation barrier for me to jump right in and get started. In a couple hours on Saturday night, I got all of the pieces cut and interfaced and the outside pieces assembled. Sunday morning I woke up enthusiastic to finish it up and it took just another couple of hours before breakfast. 

        

I think it turned out great. I really love the color combination, and the canvas was pretty bulky in a couple of seams but overall a great base to work with. For the handles instead of cotton webbing or leather as recommended, I used quilt batting and fabric strips. Webbing or leather would elevate the look a bit more, but I did like the option to add the lining print and colors to the outside. I am also very pleased that I had all of the materials in my stash. I think this is a really classy gift to give and all it cost me was time! (that's crafting math for you...) More of these in my future, for sure.