Well, friends, today is the last day to enter a bag for Purse Palooza 2013. I finally finished a bag on my gift-sewing list today, the OSU Beaver Aragon bag.
This bag is made using the Sew Sweetness Aragon pattern found here. The fabrics are a black twill and Oregon State printed quilter's cotton. This pattern calls for Annie's Soft & Stable, but I substituted auto headliner fabric, as it is cheaper and what I had in my stash. I also substituted a med-weight fusible interfacing for the Pellon Shape-Flex, since I'm sewing from my stash and 3 hrs from a fabric store!
This is a large shoulder bag and will be gifted as a diaper bag to my Oregon State-loving cousin. It measures approx. 12" tall x 16" wide x 5.5" deep at the base with oodles of pockets! The outside features a zip pocket on the back side and two elasticized side pockets. I added black piping around the front main panels for extra detail and changed the magnetic snap to a swivel closure. The inside features a large double-pocket with top elastic, two side elasticized pockets and another large zippered pocket. I also added a key holder. The top closure is a large sport zipper. I omitted the back zipper flap as I wanted to show-off the orange zipper and contrasting pocket fabric.
Sara's instructions for bag construction were good, as always. I did struggle with putting this one together, though. Instead of constructing inner & outer bags and sewing them together, this one is constructed with an inside exposed seam, then the inside seam is hidden with bias tape. It was a challenge attaching the bias tape to such a large seam, but I slowly got it done. The bias finish is not as neat as I prefer, but it is mostly hidden in the bag corners.
I hope Rachelle and baby Jackson enjoy this bag. I am happy with the results. I didn't want the orange camo print to be overwhelming and think I accomplished this. Check out all the beautiful bags entered into Purse Palooza 2013 at Sew Sweetness here.