Mini Professional Tote

 It only took a few years, but I have finally made myself a Mini Professional Tote.  I had admired the (original) larger version of this design, but when I saw it made up, I decided that it was just too large for me.  Then came the mini version, and this was definitely something that I could see as a convenient bag for travel.  Then I waffled.  That's a lot of work for a bag!  My idea of a bag is something that I can put together in a few hours at most, not days.  But all those convenient pockets were definitely tempting.  Although dozens of pieces of a complicated design for a coat or dress don't scare me one bit, for some reason, I find dozens of little square and rectangular pieces for pockets and parts of a bag rather daunting.  Nevertheless, after much deliberation, I finally acquired the pattern, the fabric, and all the other bits and bobs required.  And then all of this sat for, oh, a few years.  At the beginning of summer I finally decided it was definitely time.

The fabric I chose was an ombre batik.  Dark at one selvage, gradually getting lighter towards the other.  I had (I thought) more than enough fabric to place all the outside bits on the very dark end of the fabric, and the lining on the light end.  Good thing that I didn't start cutting until I planned my placement, because it was soon obvious that there was not enough "dark" for all the pieces that I wanted at that end.  After much juggling around, I finally did manage to fit all the pieces on the fabric.  It's just that I had envisioned the outside pockets to be much darker, but had to be content with  the way things turned out.  I only had a few small scraps of the batik left at the end.  I had no batik left for the handles, but I think that was a good thing, because the contrast dark brown handles (heavy cotton twill) look a whole lot better than more batik would have.

For once I actually had to read the (excellent) instructions very carefully, working one step at a time.  Too much information at once proved confusing for the brain.  I have a bad habit of barely skimming instructions for clothing construction, then ignoring them completely.  Here I had to pay attention, and keep track of all my little numbered pieces.  It was certainly worth the effort.  I'm still not quite sure that I'm in love with my choice of fabric, but I love the design of the bag.  All those pockets...  I'm even thinking that perhaps another tote might be a possibility - perhaps in a lightweight fake suede...(?) 

Too close of a close-up?