This was a satisfying project. The Tumbleweed Toiletry Bag is a beautiful bag filled with lovely little details. I first saw it when the owner of Blue Calla Patterns did a presentation to our sewing guild, and knew I had to make one. Here’s the page on their site where you can buy the downloadable pattern. The pic at right is from from their site, also linked to that page.

I was hoping for a kit, like the one I bought from Blue Calla for the Foxtail Cross Body Sling, but there wasn’t one available. There was a kit for the hardware, which are always the toughest bits to find IMO. (It lives at that link, but availability of all the various options does vary.) They did have a sale running at the time, so I chose fabric and zippers etc., and essentially built my own kit. I did have to buy the fusible foam from my local fabric store as they were out of stock of that.

And here’s my finished bag:

I love these fabrics and the little bird in the floral print. The construction was remarkably easy, once I stopped overthinking it and trying to figure out how it would all come together. I just needed to follow the instructions and let it happen.

I made only two changes. First, I used a fake leather for the base and the handles, instead of fabric or cork. Secondly, I inserted a piece of 1/4″ cord into the handles to make them round. In the pattern, they’re just flat.

I love this bag so much!

Here’s the inside of the bottom section. It has a zippered mesh pocket, which is on the bottom of the top section.

And here’s a peek inside the top section:

I picked the feather zipper tabs to coordinate with the lining fabric.

I had some trouble sewing the thicker areas with my domestic machine. For example, the stitching line around the top to hold the frame should meet below the hinge, but with those seam allowances, I couldn’t manage it. I left a gap and it’s fine. Similarly, I couldn’t do the topstitching on the top side of the lower zipper, for the same reason.

When I make it again, I’ll add some more topstitching – around the base, for example, and on the top side of that zipper, as well as in the base of the lining – just to manage the seam allowances better. I have a crazy amount of materials left over, so there will be more bags in these fabrics, as well as at least one in this design.

I’m not planning a trip so don’t really need a toiletry bag. I’m thinking I’ll use it as a knitting project bag – the yarn supply can go in the bottom, the needles and notions in that zippered pocket, then the project on the needles in the top section.