California Dreamin'

This was a pattern I acquired from E patternscentral.com some time ago.  I eventually got to it this week and though, I didn't follow the pattern to the letter, it is near enough to look like their picture.

The pattern wasn't that easy to read, though that may have just been me.  In the end, I just took it step by step, and then with a flash of inspiration, realised what I was supposed to be accomplishing to form these sides.

Once I realised what I was trying to achieve, it all fell into place.  After that, it was all plain sailing to to the end.

This was some fabric my mum bought many years ago, before I had the children, and it has been sitting in my box for the last eleven years waiting for some inspiration.  Eve though I had never known what I was going to do with it, I had always liked it too much to give away.  It may have taken a long time to find something to do with it, but it was worth the wait.  As I wasn't going to find anything to go with it, I used the same fabric for the lining.

I used heavy duty iron on interfacing to give body to the outside of the bag, so it is firm enough to keep it's shape, but still soft enough to be comfortable.  All in all, I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.