Messenger Bag

Jodie Carleton

Final size:

25.5 x 28cm (10 x 11in), excluding handle

USD $7.57

Beginner

Sewing

For USD $7.57 you get

Easy to print at home digital pattern sheet

Simple step-by-step instructions to follow

Large detailed images and diagrams

How it works

Digital patterns and classes are delivered straight to your inbox for you to download/watch instantly
You receive lifetime access to any digital pattern or video tutorial purchased
Products are available to be delivered worldwide

Cosy values

Digital patterns and instructions are quality, trialled and tested and guaranteed to work
Brought to you by Australia’s Homespun and Quilters Companion magazines

Description

A messenger bag is stylish, practical and suitable to be used by teenagers and adults alike. With Jodie Carlton’s bag pattern, you’ll be able to make your own messenger bag with with a host of features.

The strap can be made so that the bag sits either on your shoulder or across your body for greater security
Includes a back pocket, magnetic-clip closure and a PVC flap that is easy to wipe clean
All shapes are provided full size, ready for tracing
Large enough to carry a tablet, book and/or magazine
An excellent bag for travellers of all ages
Made from standard quilting cotton fabric – so there’s enormous scope for choosing colours and patterns to suit everyone and anyone
Straightforward to make – so you’ll have no excuse for not make half a dozen!
A stylish but practical gift that can be made to suit various recipients
A terrific project for a crafter with intermediate-level skills, although no prior experience in bag making is essential for success

Materials

Fabric requirements specified in instructions
Clear PVC
25mm (1in) wide pre-prepared black binding
Medium-weight fusible interfacing
Bag batting
40mm (1 1⁄2in) flat oblong rings in silver
Magnetic clip
Template plastic and permanent-marking pen
Tailor’s chalk
Fine Pigma pen in red
Rotary cutter, ruler and cutting mat
Sewing machine with 1/4in foot
General sewing supplies

Designer

Jodie Carleton

Why do you make softies? Toys make me smile. I love walking into my sewing room and calling out “hello everybody”. I figure there are plenty of people to make practical things; I specialise in cute but useless. Sometimes, when you get something just right and a little face looks back at you with a certain twinkle in its eye, you know this is what you should be doing.

How do you come up with such cute ideas? One thing just leads to another. When I first made Elsie Cabbage, I just knew she had to have a brother and that he would be called Arthur and wear a little newspaper hat. Sometimes, an element of a toy, like a style of foot or a particular construction method, sets me off on a whole path to determine what kind of toy it fits into. Occasionally, a whole personality just invades my brain and drives me crazy until it becomes real.

What’s your favourite softie design ever? Oh! Man, that’s like asking a mother who her favourite child is. My favourite is usually the one that I happen to be working on.

If you weren’t doing this, what else would be you doing? Apart from being a zookeeper, which is my all-time dream job, I can’t imagine not being a maker of things. Those things might change or evolve, but I really have no idea what I’d do if I didn’t make stuff. What do non-makers do with all their time?

What does this craft mean to you? This craft means I’m always on the lookout for the perfect fabric. It means I buy felt in bulk and have whole tins labelled ‘eyes’. My sewing room is always littered with body parts and half-finished heads and torsos. It is the cute and macabre all together. I love that I make things that make people smile. I love watching people interact with my toys. If I had endless amounts of time, I would make toys to sell at a market, just to watch people smile as they come along and chance upon a toy that they can relate to. This craft means I get to have fun.

Is it hard to find time to do this or is it a profession? I wish I was in a position to say this is my profession; instead, I refer to it as my ‘jobhobby’. I work in the library of a primary school part-time, and I use almost every other minute possible to make toys. Crazy, but true!