Ravenwood Messenger Bag

Happy New Year! Back to blogging after a bit of a hiatus. It was unintended, and was only because my project took a long time... and then I procrastinated, which I'm very good at.

The project took a long time because first of all, it was a big project. If I remember correctly, I cut 72 pieces in all! Secondly, I took my time at it simply because I could (meaning no deadline) and also because I wanted to make sure it was 'just right'. It was relaxing to make this one, even though it had a couple of challenging spots, but they were nothing worse than I've done before. The pattern was very well-done and easy to follow.

Here's the selvage from the fabric I used. I was some canvas that Jess had bought in Japan a few years ago.

She finally decided she wanted a laptop bag made from it, and the best pattern we found was the Ravenwood Messenger Bag by Betz White. There wasn't quite enough fabric for it, so we decided to accent the bag with some waxed canvas I had, and the shoulder strap was made from webbing that Jess had bought along with the fabric. So... here is the bag!

It was a lot of work, but so worth it. Jess loves it, and so do I. I'd happily make another one... and maybe will someday if I ever acquire a laptop.

That's the front side pictured above. Behind those two cargo pockets is a large zipper pocket.

Here's the back...

... which has a pocket under the flap that zips open to reveal elastic straps that hold cables and a mesh pocket which you can use for a lot of things and easily see what you've put in it.

Inside is a padded laptop sleeve on one side and three slip pockets on the other side, made from linen.

Considering that the canvas was a newsprint, I of course had to do some fussy cutting (and maybe spent way too much time deciding what to put where - heheh). It was fun choosing, and here are some of the more interesting cuts. Jess thinks "consider redesign" should be her new business slogan!

Always good to 'plan ahead'.

We could certainly use answers to health these days!

I put velcro under the pocket flaps instead of thumb locks, at Jess's request.

As an added fun touch, I made a strap keeper fastened with a KAMsnap in Jess's signature color.

There were still a few small scraps left that just needed to become 'something', so Jess requested a little matching pouch for her earbuds and airpods. Since I had made the Zip Mask Case by Dog Under My Desk before, I thought it would be a good choice, and I made it smaller by trimming an inch off of all but the bottom edges of the main and pocket pattern pieces.Voilà!

(Did you notice the fussy cutting on the zipper tab?)

Now I'm all caught up on posting my sewing projects... except for one that I never got photos of from its recipient. I guess I could show it to you sometime anyway. Maybe. It was rather cute. But next up is another pattern test that I'll be working on very soon.

(P.S. Any formatting inconsistencies you might notice are a result of a battle with Blogger once again. Grrr! I tried!!)