Sidekick Tote, yay!

I finished my sidekick tote last week and I'm really happy with how it turned out. I love the finishing touches in this pattern.

I used Wallflowers fabric by Allison Harris, and coordinated with a Bella solid which is a salmon-y pink colour - a classic case of the colour on the screen being very different to the actual colour. I thought I was buying a delicate pink, and this salmon pink would not be my favourite shade by a long mile. But it works well as a contrasting colour and trim, and the grey balances it out nicely. The pocket is from Violet Craft's Waterfront Park, a print I love, and it coordinates nicely with the Wallflowers.

I was a bit disappointed with the finish of the interfacing - neither of my local stores have had woven fusible for the longest time, so I used some of the regular fusible stuff I found in my stash and needed to use up. But I find the regular fusible much harder to work with, it just seems to give a crinkly finish no matter what I do with it, and that's most visible on the pocket. But a bit of use seems to have eased it out a little bit.

I meant to put a key loop on the inside, and another pocket, but I totally forgot. But that's ok, because this is my weekend bag so I tend not to carry the same amount of crap with me as I do in my big work bag. I really love the strap on this - I added extra length to it as I'm tall and I like a cross body bag.

This was my first time doing a recessed zipper. I love how it looks. It took me quite a few goes to get the sides meeting up evenly where the zipper comes away from the fabric at the end, but I kept at it and eventually matched them up on the 4th or 5th try.

 

I thought this pattern was well written and (essential for me!) it had plenty of pictures to help me follow the instructions. I definitely think that I would put a 2nd one together very quickly, having made it once and may just have to do that.