Wizard of Oz Mabel Bag

Here's the one big project I worked on for Christmas, and have been anxiously waiting to share, especially for Amy's Sew & Tell now that it's back from "Christmas break." I've also been kind of slacking since I actually gave this away on Christmas, and haven't gotten around to sharing it with you all before now.

This pattern is the Mabel bag from Jenna Lou Designs. I love this pattern! It's a great size for a messenger bag, and could easily be used as a laptop bag with some padding or a padded laptop sleeve. It uses Peltex interfacing, so it's nice & sturdy.

I did a disappearing nine patch for the main outer fabric made from 12 different Wizard of Oz fabrics I found at a local quilt shop.

My favorite of the prints is this "Surrender Dorothy." Also, it's difficult to see, but I did the "quilting" (not exactly, since there's no batting) with metallic red stitching.

The pattern calls for a zipper pocket on the inside, but because I only had just enough fabric left and hadn't ever tackled it before, I decided to play it safe with a simple slip pocket. I did add a strap with a clip for keys, or this little pouch.

The pouch is made from the Keyka Lou keychain clutch pattern, but I increased the pattern size 115%. It's now big enough to hold an ipod touch (or iphone). The original pattern size is nice & small, but wouldn't hold anything but a small phone or some change.

The strap is adjustable with metal hardware, and is made from alternating size pieces of the yellow bring road & ruby red slipper fabrics.

Overall, I couldn't be happier with how this turned out. It was relatively simple to make, and if I hadn't decided to do the patchwork, it could have easily been made in a weekend instead of over about a month's time. One thing that was difficult though was the Peltex lining made it a bit clunky to maneuver, especially around the curve in the top. Also, because it's so thick, I had to hand-sew the strap reinforcement & wasn't able to topstitch around the opening, which I usually prefer. It doesn't look terrible without the top stitching, but it's a finishing touch I always like to add.

Until next time...