The good, the bad, and the not so ugly...

The good:

I finished my Purse-O-Nality Bag.

The Bad:

I spent an hour before going to work at the Inn tonight posting pictures with a whole critique of this bag, Blogger refused to save it, and all was lost!

The not so ugly:

It's not a bad bag but it needs some serious tweeking.

The first picture is the bag with the handles rotated so that you can carry it like a back pack. There are 2 D rings and two clasps on opposing sides of the bag that allow for this.

The second picture is the inside of the bag, and BTW there are NO illustrations or pictures of the inside, so I wasn't sure how the hell it was going to turn out! There are two gathered pockets and those things on the inside on each side are 'bottle carriers'. These are part of the diaper bag design. I stuck magazines in these and they are higher than the bag, therefor the bag can't zip across the top, so there is no need for these if you use it for a computer bag.

The third picture shows a manila folder stuck in one of the outside pockets. I purposely omitted the middle vertical stitching on this side of the bag so that I would have one big pocket instead of 2 smaller ones. The pattern has you stitch vertical seams down the centers on both sides, giving you a total of 6 small outside pockets. Who needs that many small outside pockets?

I stuck a magazine in one of the side pockets so you can get an idea of the size.

Here is a photo of the front of the bag with the zipper pocket on the body of the bag.

My thoughts.

First of all, this is an interesting bag, but I didn't have a lot of fun making it.

Is there perhaps some sort of purse feng shui that I'm unaware of??

Changes that I will make on a future bag:

1/2" not 1/4" seam allowances (SA). With so many thicknesses at some points you lose total control with 1/4" SA's.

My computer just fits so I will make this bag a couple of inches higher and one inch wider than the pattern calls for.

The zipper is at the very top of the bag and I like my zippers recessed (with a facing) about an inch or so into the bag. Nicole Mallalieu does just this with her bags!! The way this one is designed, my computer comes right up to the zipper and it actually almost bulges out of the top of the bag so I will use Nicole's technique on my next one.

I will use different pockets for the inside, either the elastice ones the pattern calls for or zippered pockets, etc... You can use your imagination.

I want a hard bottom and once again Nicole comes to the rescue with her tutorial.

I'm surprised that this pattern doesn't have any illustrations or pictures. I mean none! I will admit that the directions are well written but for a novice or an idiot (me) the more information the better! Nicole's patterns are very well written which is so smart; don't you want people to enjoy the sewing process and come back for more?

I'm just not sure. I thought I was going to love this bag but all in all I don't think it will hold as much as I thought it would. I'm going to give it a spin and perhaps enlarge it over all. But that may ruin it, I just don't know.

I'll keep you informed.

I would like to go to sleep except I have the hiccups!!??