Daily Duffel

Blame it on the weather. That's the reason I haven't posted for over a month(!). I've had a project finished, but I couldn't show it to you until I'd gifted it, and due to snowstorms, school closings, snowy roads, etc., I had not been able to get it to its recipient until yesterday. The recipient is Courtney, who is also a busy girl after school on some of my Tuesdays this year, which added to the reasons this post was delayed. But let's delay no further!

I tested another bag pattern for Dog Under My Desk, which if you've followed my blog very long, you know I love to do because she writes the best patterns ever. Here's a progress photo of all the pieces after I'd gotten the interfacing fused.

The fabrics may look familiar, because they are the same as I'd used in these bags which I made for Courtney for her birthday last year. I just love those Cats in the Library (by Timeless Treasures)!

The pattern includes Erin's easy-to-follow instructions for a flawless zipper pocket with no raw edges inside, including the zipper tape.

(The Paw Prints are also by Timeless Treasures.)

I made my first-ever double-pull zipper. Yes, I made it, and it's easy to do! Erin has a video tutorial on how to add a zipper pull (or to replace one if you accidentally pulled it off). You can find that tutorial here.

I made good use of my Wonder Clips again. How did I ever get by without them way back when?!

The outer bag and lining, all ready to put together:

The beauty of this new pattern is that Erin figured out a brilliant way to make a "drop-in" lining that doesn't require any hand sewing. It's the most challenging part of the pattern, in my opinion, but if you take it slowly and follow the instructions closely step-by-step, you can have a result like this:

I did some fussy-cutting on this bag. It wasn't too hard.

Here's the back of the bag....

... and the front, which has a divided pocket, if you look closely. That fussy-cutting came out just right - yay!

Here's the completed Daily Duffel bag, but it's a little hard to figure out the size from the photos of it alone, so....

... here it is held by my favorite young model, as she was leaving last night. I almost forgot to snap a pic! (Also, you can see the tons of snow we have around here right now. Ugh. There's more on the way this coming weekend, too. Spring, we need you SOON!!!)

The Daily Duffel pattern includes two sizes. The one I made is the smaller one. You can find the pattern to purchase here, and Erin tells more about it and shows the other testers' photos in her blog post here. Her little son, Emmett, looks pretty darn cute carrying his Daily Duffel, too!

I should be back sooner next time. Should. I have another project nearly completed, but it's giving me fits. It's my fault, because the fabrics I chose are really too thick, so I'm having quite a time with some of the final stitching. More on that when I show it to you. I WILL conquer it. Eventually. Because I have a number of other projects in the queue!