Grommet Bag from Indygo Juncton

Guess I am in a bag making mode right now as I just finished making this Grommet Bag from Indygo Junction pattern company.  I have had the pattern and this fabric for a year or two.  Guess I was just waiting for the right time to put the two together in this bag. 

I made a few changes to this bag like the last two I just made.  I added the outside zipper and customized the inside pockets.  This bag uses plastic drapery rings for the strap to be woven through.  The rings come in two parts and snap together over the circle cut into the fabric.

The fabrics I used are upholstery or drapery fabric so are a little heavier than quilting cottons.  The strips were sewn together then quilted on both sides of each seam to some fusible fleece.  This was a quick way to quilt the outside bag fabric.  The photo below is the main body of the purse all ready for lining. 

I was just sailing along getting this bag stitched up and had the pockets stitched to the lining.  When I say stitched I mean stitched with the divisions stitched, the straps to close the pockets stitched….all done ready to fold and stitch the side seams.

I guess I shouldn’t have been feeling so sure of myself.  I had stitched them on the wrong way….all of them on the wrong way!  Thank goodness it was wide enough (had to trim some width off but it wasn’t going to be deep enough.  My solution was to split it down the center and add a strip the width of the bottom of the bag which was just enough to fit the outside.  Looking at this photo you can see I just used interfacing behind the pockets not the rest of the lining.  I might have interfaced it but ran out of interfacing and didn’t have enough for that so opted to just get the back of the pockets interfaced, especially where the stitching was going to be.  I did use a piece of fusible fleece on this new section that I machine quilted in a cross hatch design.
 Here is what the inside of the lining looks like with the pockets all stitched.  I made the pockets from the same fabric as the lining so you can not see them on these photos so I outlined on the photos in the lime green to make them visible.  I stitched Velcro to the straps that will hold my cell phone and my wallet in their respective pockets.  The pocket that holds my red wallet has a pleated side to compensate for the depth of my wallet.  I did that on a pocket in the lining of the purple/black star bag too and it works really well.

Check out the tassels on the outside of the bag….one is used as a zipper pull and the other I stitched to the outside on the strap.  I am not sure if that strap tassel will stay or be a real nuisance and have to be removed. 

		Grommet Bag VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I plan to use this bag to carry my large DSL camera at times….will use it that way when I am in Paducah, Kentucky at the AQS show next week.  I am so excited to go again this year with my two sisters, niece and friend.  We have such a good time and it is amazing to see those wonderful quilts and get a chance to shop at so many vendors selling all that stuff we quilters can’t live without!

Lynn