Caravan tote

This little knitter has been succumbed by sewing frenzy. It seems that to balance work and free time I need another hobby besides knitting as knitting has become party a job. But since I'm a certified masochist knitter, I don't tend to do free time the easiest way. So I've gone and got addicted to sewing bags.

What: Caravan tote / Noodlehead

How: Sewing machine, Brother PS 53

From: Main fabrics are canvas from Spoonflower and wool, lining is cotton and cotton linen mix, a zipper, leather, metal parts, interface etc.

It all started with this weekend bag. It was such a mindblowing sewing experience that I had to make another one for my mom. Then this fall, I spotted a great backpack on Instagram and made one for myself - and in the process seemed to get half of the Finnish knit scene to make them as well. And since then, I've made three more. But those are Christmas presents so you'll have to wait to see the pics. I also bought another back pattern from the same designer, this Caravan tote which is a tote bag designed especially for knitters.

The annoying thing about sewing is that the prepartions take more time than the actual sewing. I spent half a day cutting the fabrics and ironing interface into place. And then I finally sat infront of my sewing machine ready to start... expect that I needed to change the needle and while taking the old one off I managed to drop it deep inside the machine. So much for sewing. Luckily this has now been fixed, as you can probably tell by the pics with the bag.

Caravan tote is a bag designed for knitters. It has one snap pocket on the outside and one pocket on the inside with eyelets so you can pull your yarn through them. But the coolest thing of all is a zipper pocket hidden on the outside of the bag with a needle pocket inside it. There's also plenty of room for printed patterns and notions.

The bag is huge and can easily accommodate a couple projects. The bag is otherwise oopen but it has a magnetic lock in the middle. I bought such powerful magnetic locks that the hardest part about fastening them was to separate the pieces to begin with. For the handles I used leather I found at a craft fair. There were plenty of leather shops selling excess bits from shoe industry.

The caravan tote was a nice sewing project. There weren't any particularly difficult parts and the result is adorable - not to mention handy! The most difficult part of the project was choosing the fabrics. I was hoping to use left over cottons from my stash but it turned out that especially the zipper pocket needed quite a bit of fabric. This is not a project for the smallest pieces of left over fabrics but I did manage to whip this up with my fabric stash. I only bought the metal parts, the leather and interface. Oh yes, the second most annoying thing about sewing is that you always run out of interface.

The pattern also included instructions for this cutest little project bag to match the tote bag. It is so sweet and just the perfect size for a sock project. It didn't quite fit two skeins but who could blame me for trying.