Husker Bag–Displaying My College Pride

John and I have season tickets to the University of Nebraska at Lincoln Women’s Basketball games.  We enjoy going and to show our pride we wear our school colors as much as we can. (I can say our because we both graduated from the University of Nebraska, although it was many years ago.)I decided since we were going to so many games I needed to make a purse/bag to go with my Husker red clothes.  By the way UNL’s mascot is the Cornhuskers…shortened to Huskers. I used the Barbados Bag pattern designed by Nancy Green from Pink Sand Beach Designs for the basic pattern. This is both sides of the outside of the bag.  I used two red/black/white prints plus some of the black leather from one of the thrift store leather coats I took apart for the bottom.   It is hard to tell where the pockets are located so these photos below show a white card placed in the pockets.  I like lots of pockets in my bags so if a pattern doesn’t have what I want I add them.I used a white fabric with small black printed design for the lining of my bag.  I always choose a light colored lining as I made the mistake of making one bag with a black lining and I never can see anything inside!  I always put one zippered pocket and patch pockets on the opposite side of the lining in most bags I make.  There is a bit of a change to one of the patch pockets though.  Scroll down to look at the detail photo. 
I do want to point out the that the bottom is left open on one half of the patch pocket.  My sister showed me this trick a few years ago.  The reason is that you can stand your wallet or checkbook up and it will peek out the top for easy retrieval and the bottom will rest on the bottom of the bag.  Keeps the pocket from tipping forward when something heavier is placed inside. All finished!  I love it and have carried it quite a few times already.  You can see front and back views below.As a final touch I make zipper pulls for ease of opening and closing. For this bag I have one special one I originally purchased as a piece of jewelry but added a lobster clip and Ta-Da a fantastic zipper pull..  In case you can't read it, it says “once a Husker, always a Husker”.Also dressed up the bag with a bit more bling.  This was also part of a necklace but I did find that it was a bit heavy to wear as a necklace but is perfect hanging on to the base of my bag strap.  It could be a great key ring as well.I love the size of the bag, love the fabrics plus the leather on the bottom as it helps to keep it clean at the ball games, and love the subtle tribute (red and white colors) to my beloved Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Lynn