EB Bag Swap - What I Got!!

Have a look at what I was lucky enough to unwrap!! This came courtesy of Anna from Tillytom Designs. The parcel was beautifully wrapped in a gorgeous purple fabric with silver circles that I just love - still trying to decide what to do with it. I didn't get a photo of it all wrapped up because, well, I was too keen to open it!

The wonderful bag and the two bonus surprises - a purse and a matching hairtie and clip set!

Loaded and ready to go! Inside and out...

Here is the bag ready to go to out to a party - the black and red thing is my ring sling, then there's a drawstring bag with a cloth nappy, handtowel (used as a change mat), facewasher in it. The little purse is sitting there. You can just make out the orange button on the right-hand side which is on a big pocket that wraps around - the pocket has a spare pair of pants and a couple more cloth nappies in it. On the left at the top of the bag you can see a white zip - that pocket has DH's wallet. Then there's a couple of little pocket which have my phone and a little book for DS. Then there's the outside pockets!! Photo on the right shows these - DS's drink bottle in the left one and mine in the right one.

One feature of the bag that I really appreciate is the little elasticised key holder. This is very convenient and should mean I will no longer be dropping my keys all the time.

The bonus purse is great - it easily holds my phone, wallet, lip gloss, with room for a couple of other things. This is handy as it means this items can live in the purse and if I'm going out on my own (very rare but it does happen) then I can just grab the purse and go.

To see some more expert pics, have a look here at the photos Anna took before she sent it!

P.S massive apologies to Anna for taking so long to blog, me and blogger have *not* been getting along.

EB Bag Swap - What I Sent

Front of the bag

Five or so weeks ago I took the plunge and signed up for the EB bag swap. This is the third swap I've been in, but only the second that required me to sew!

Front of the bag with the flap opened - you can just make out the side pocket and the two along the front - all are hook and loop closing

I spent so long looking for fabric and a pattern. Eventually I decided upon this tutorial. My recipient doesn't have kids in nappies any more but still has three young kids. The design doesn't shout 'nappy bag' and is very functional as an every day bag for a busy mum.

The inside showing just how roomy it is. Note that according to the tute the inner pockets were supposed to be done in the same fabric as the lining, but I quite like it this way!

The tute was great, easy to understand and I am SO happy with how this bag came together. It is by far the biggest sewing project I have undertaken, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to pull it off, but I did! I am very glad I joined in this swap as it pushed me to do things that I would've otherwise have put off learning

forever.

New skills mastered (well, perhaps mastered is going a bit far...): zips, pockets, pockets with zips, pockets with elastic.

I am very tempted to make another one of these bags for myself, and possibly as gifts.

The back of the bag - you can just see the full-width zip creating a very large pocket perfect for paperwork etc.

Here are some questions I answered on EB as part of the swap wrap-up

Who I sewed for GetShakey

Type of bag nappy/messenger bag

Pattern details: online tutorial - http://amingledyarn.wordpress.com/gallery/tutorial-hip-mama-diaper-bag/

What fabric/other materials I used:
The outer and lining fabrics were both quilters cotton that I purchased from Spotlight. I can't remember the name...

Information I want to share with regard to construction or sizing?

The only problem I ran into with the construction was that I used quilters cotton rather than the oilcloth that the tute used. As a result, the elastic on the inner pockets pulls the lining in as the fabric isn't structured enough to support it. I did interface the lining piece that has the two pocket in it, but I don't think it made much of a difference. The piece that has three pockets, I used a longer piece of elastic than recommended, and I think next time I would go longer again.

What I'd do differently next time
Two things: include a key ring and make the shoulder strap adjustable so it can be more easily worn across the body if need be.