PR wardrobe contest and Indygo Junction Bag

Yes, I'm a glutton for punishment, so in addition to the Timmel Swap, I have entered the Pattern Review Wardrobe contest. The rules for this contest state that you must have 4 tops, 4 bottoms, either a jacket or a dress, and an accessory. I'm planning on using a few things from the Timmel SWAP on both (black skirt, pants, striped top and white blouse) but everything else will be different. Here is my storyboard


I've already made the skirt and pants, and today I made the handbag.

I was looking for something different to use as an accessory. Even though I have several different handbag patterns, I kind of wanted to do something like this. The pattern is simple, but it has NO POCKETS. What's up with that? Well, fortunately, I've made a few bags before, so I know how to add them. This is what I did

First, cut a rectangle 2-3" high and the length of your pocket. Draw a line down the middle the size of your zipper. Place the rectangle RST with the lining (or outside of bag, depending on where you want the pocket.) Stitch around this line to form a rectangle. Cut down the center of the rectangle and then into the corners so that you have a slit that looks like this >-------<. Now turn the facing you have just made to the inside so that it looks like this:

Now, just lay your zipper under the opening and stitch all the way around it with a zipper foot. I used steam a seam to hold my zipper in place instead of pins


Next, cut your pocket bag the width of the facing and as long as you need to go from the top of the facing, down to the bottom, and back up to the bottom of the facing. Sew the pocket bag to the top and bottom of the facing, RST

Now, lay the fabric flat, press, and stitch down the sides.(pull the main part of the bag out of the way.

That's pretty much it. I did one zippered opening in the bag itself and one in the lining. I also added open pockets insside and out. The pattern said to use muslin as an interfacing, but I thought the bag would be too floppy, so I used fusible fleece instead. I like the way it turned out.