Anyway, I needed a thing to carry all my supplies in to knit night. I happened to have this gorgeous print by Sarah Watts in her Cat Lady collection for Cotton + Steel. I am a total Cotton + Steel fan, and especially Sarah Watts. That she also lives in Atlanta means that my dream of becoming her best friend is actually a little possible (you too, Jody Benson). I managed to find two coordinating prints also in my stash.
I've been eyeing this pattern for a while, so I knew that I definitely had to use my cat lady fabric to make it. It's Anna Graham of Noodlehead's Maker's Tote. It's this genius bag (she's a genius bag designer, after all) with gussets and lots of useful pockets, that has binding all the way around.
I wasn't surprised to find the construction was absolutely on point, as usual. An inset pocket, bellows pockets, and a separating zipper all make this for a fun and practical sew. I use the Pellon double sided fusible foam instead of soft and stable. I used soft and stable for another project, and at first I didn't like the finished result of the fusible foam, but now I think they're about equal. The foam was actually a little hard to fuse.
The most challenging part was binding the whole thing, but thankfully the thing is hand stitched the front (I love me some hand binding) so it turned out pretty awesome. The trickiest part was sewing the zipper in neatly and covering the raw edges.
If you're not familiar with Anna's patterns, they're all excellently laid out with thorough instructions. I personally think that any advanced beginner or beyond could tackle this, with only a minimal amount of cursing.
It fits this whole sweater project, plus Vogue Knitting magazine, with room to spare, and so many notions in those awesome pockets! I don't know if I'll ever make another, but I'm certainly going to keep this pattern around.
Fabrics Used:
Cat Lady Pouncy Ball Green
Cloud 9 Organics We Are All Stars Lime
Kona Cotton Geranium
Kona Cotton Iron Grey
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