You may have noticed that I have a thing for bags and baskets. I love making them, I love wearing them, they are often perfect projects for using up your fabric scraps and are usually a relatively quick and simple item to sew up compared to bigger projects.
Banana shaped cross body bags are everywhere and have been for some time. I love the freedom and security that a cross body bag gives you, you have more control over the contents of your bag when the zip opening is right under your nose and no more strap sliding off your shoulder moments.
NGL there are a ton of patterns out that fit into this category and I have been keeping my eye open for a while for what looked like the perfect one for me.
The Bestie Bag from Blackbird Fabrics is a great choice imo. You have the choice of making a medium or large sized bag, with or without pleats, with or without lining, and having the options of a webbing strap, a tie strap or a self strap! I have made the medium sized bag with pleats and a webbing strap.
Oh btw there is the option to buy a small size bag add-on pattern which can be found here.
For the outer I used a grey cotton linen fabric which was a leftover from my Bob Pants made back in Feb, and to give it a bit more interest I decided to quilt it using leftover wadding from my stash too. For the lining I chose a jazzy cotton wax print fabric which was a gift a while back from a friend. I like a bright lining to a bag – it makes it easier to find your keys! The lining has open pockets on both sides ( a large pocket and smaller pocket) which are useful. You could easily add snap popper fasteners to these to make them more secure or add your own zipped pocket it’s up to you. Leave them out completely if you like!
I was expecting the pleat in the outer bag to be much larger and more of a feature. It’s very small however and does not seem to serve any purpose. It’s barely noticeable in fact.
Originally I purchased some plain mid grey webbing for the strap, but happened to notice a really cute ready made bag strap when I was out shopping a couple of days later. I couldn’t resist it and it was straight in my shopping basket. The strap that I used is this one. The good thing is that most of the hardware that I would have needed to buy was already on the ready made strap, so all I had to buy after that was the 2 x D-rings (I used these).
I now have some grey webbing that I don’t need but will definitely be able to use this for another make in the future. Because the ready made strap width was slightly wider than the recommended webbing width, I did have to jiggle a couple of things around to make it all work. Sometimes when you substitute something different to what the pattern asks for you have to adjust this and that. However I love how the strap looks with the grey bag and it is plenty long enough. I have it in it’s shortest setting, and it’s still quite long.
I’m very happy with the bag, and it’s getting lots of use already. I am super satisfied with the size. It’s a bit bigger than usual, and for someone who likes to take the kitchen sink out with her this suits me fine.
Take care, and I’ll be back soon,
Kathy x
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