Stitchin' Friends: My new "Bag"

Is it a pocketbook, purse or just a plain "bag" - I never know quite what to call these things that are all the craze to make these days. Since bag is the easiest to type, that is what I will use. I have a terrible time finding pocketbooks to meet my needs - either too many inside pockets that I lose things in, outside pockets that look like sadde bags or cigarette pockets, straps too short, too small to hold my stuff or so big I can't find anything. Anyone else have this problem?

So I have been looking for a new summer bag, and having no luck when the new Fons and Porter magazine arrived and I liked the look of this bag (pg 58,may-June 2012). The only problem - it is too small at only 10" square and 1" wide. So, I got out my paper and pen, and enlarged the dimensions to 12" square and 2" wide which I will be happy to share with anyone that wants them.

My daughter and I went fabric shopping, and of course she convinced me to go LOUD in my color selections, where I would normally go more plain jane quiet . Here are the pieces laid out on my cutting table (nothing sewn yet). Notice the great Elephant button - had to have it! At this point, I am having my doubts though, this is way outside of my comfort zone in color combinations. The black and white check I had at the house and I thought it looked better than the yellow we picked out for the top band, straps and trim.

My daughter, Ellen, is the expert on bag making and she told me to put fusible batting in the body of the bag. I did this and really like the way it softens the bag while giving it body. I only put the batting on the body - not in the band at the top of the bag.

All the other pieces had fusible interfacing applied which gives the bag a nice body.

The pattern has open pockets on the inside of the bag, but I really wanted a zipper pocket to hide those things that I don't like floating around in my pocketbook, and also a separate pocket for my calendar (yes, I still carry a paper calendar book) and checkbook. So I changed the lining to include these.

I attached one of those magnet closures. I had my doubts at first about this as it is kind of a rubber plastic kind of material and the instructions said to sew it on. But it actually went on like a charm - easy peasy. I also wanted a pocket on the back of the bag big enough to put my e-reader or a small stitchery project for those visits to the doctor's office, so I added that.