a new bag for a new year.....

on january 1st, while I was at my sister's house down

in [rainy] devon, I had the urge to make a bag.....

now I had an idea in my head.......

I wanted it to be fairly small but not too small

{but not too big either}......

I wanted it to be made from oilcloth.......

I wanted it to have a pocket which was exactly the 

right size for an iPad mini

{bet you can't guess why.....}

I wanted it to have enough additional pockets and 

places to put all my stuff so that I could find things

quickly and easily without having to empty the 

entire contents of the bag on the nearest available surface.....

I did have rather a long list of wants and

no bag ever manages to tick every box so

I decided the only option was to make one up myself......

and that included making up my own pattern too......

oooohhhh.....

I made a prototype and was actually quite 

pleased with the result......

I made a few notes regarding dimensions and

also jotted down one or two things that I hadn't thought

of whilst making it that would make it even better.....

dottie then went on an oilcloth hunt and found some 

rather lovely specimens in john lewis......

and on saturday we had a day together at the asylum

where we got to play for the whole day.....

this was the result.....

** the front **

complete with twist lock -

never done one of those before -

no great dramas really..... easy as pie to insert.....

** the back **

this is a pocket with a magnetic bag clip to keep it shut.....

** the 'under-the-flap' front **

where the oilcloth piece is 'cut away' makes a large

front pocket and the little red section which you can

see just poking up there is a pocket for my mobile phone -

which I normally loose in the deep recesses of my bag and 

can't grab in time to answer a call.....

 this little pocket will keep it nice and handy.....

** the back inside **

that pocket you can see right there in the middle

 of the photo is the exact size for an iPad mini.....

there isn't one to go in it yet but another little

fund has been started.....

the smaller sections either side of the centre pocket

fit my glasses on one side and a couple of pens on the other.....

you can't really see it in this photo but there is, 

right over there on the left hand side,

a ribbon with a key clip on it so my keys don't 

get swallowed up in the abyss.....

** the inside front **

I decided to put a zippered pocket in the front inside

section as another little place to store 'stuff'......

ok, that's enough photos of my bag,

here's a couple of photos of dottie's bag......

so there we are....

two lovely bags,

for two lovely bags....

ho, ho....