I’ve been doing the whole Pinterest thing for a while now. I have to admit that most of my pinning is done for laughs- I could live in the humor category. But I also pin useful things here and there. Often they are based on color and pattern that I am inspired by. I very very rarely want to copy anything I see, but I like to take bits and pieces of many things and make them into something I love. But here is one example of something I saw that I wanted to make:

This is a bag from Anthropologie that is no longer being sold. So if I wanted one, my only choice was to look at it, and try my best to come up with something similar. Here’s my version:

You can see some differences, but I did try. (By the way, the bottom is not curved as it appears to be in the picture. It just needs to be pressed straight.)  I only came across two issues while making this tote. The first was the handles. I had no idea how long to make them, and this is the first time I’ve made handles that look like this. So mine ended up a bit short, and on one side, a tiny bit wonky. Luckily, when the straps are up as they will be in use, you really can’t see the mistake.

And the second issue I had was with the top binding. My edgestitching was off, so I covered that up by doing a dense zig zag stitch all the way around the bag’s top. I always apply binding by hand, simply because that is the way it should be done. But for whatever reason, I decided to do it with my machine and things did not turn out so well. So I went even further off the deep end and used that zig zag stitch. Will I ever do this to a quilt? HECK NO. But I think its okay for the bag. I know everyone has their own method of binding. I happen to love the look and process of hand binding. Lesson learned? Do what is most comfortable for you.

The inside is pretty charming. I added four elasticized pockets- two on either side. So the bag has a total of eight spacious pockets with four on the outside and two inside. I love that it is so spacious! It is about 14″ wide x 13″ tall x 6.25″ deep.

I expect this bag will be used for a number of things. I think it would be a great beach bag. It would also make a wonderful market tote. And it is sturdy enough to haul around several books- I found that out when I stuffed some old college textbooks inside.

I’m mailing out my Anthro bag today. I made it as a gift for a friend of mine. I hope she likes it!
Have a great day!

-Mere