A new bag for the summer

A couple of weeks ago the handle on my bag I use every day broke and I have been squeezing everything into a bag I usually use for evenings out. I need a larger bag to carry all the rubbish, or should that be essentials, for summer days out with three young children. When else in your life is it essential to carry around three colouring books and assorted crayons?!

I had a vague design in my head and this bag is based on the Teardrop bag from Amy Butler's Style Stitches book. I love this book. It has so many great bag patterns in it. I've made the strap a little longer than the original pattern and didn't include the pleat on the front so I could create the floral pattern.

The front of the bag has some flowers cut from the fabric I used for the back of the bag. I used Bondaweb to attach them to the fabric and then did free motion stitching around the edges of each piece. The neutral fabric on the front was some linen I bought from Ikea.

Here's the back...

The book suggests a magnetic snap closure, but I've found an elastic loop and button much simpler to make, plus I get to add a pretty button. This button is from the Basic Grey collection PB& J.

I'm really happy with my bag and I shall enjoy using it and filling it with crayons, tissues, suncream, nappies, puzzle books, sun hats etc etc etc......