A school bag for Brooklyn

I finished my very first bag yesterday! It is a messenger bag for Brooklyn to use for school this year. She loves the over the shoulder bags so when I found the tutorial for the basic messenger bag on Larissa's blog Mmmcrafts , I knew I had to make it.

I bought all my supplies and then got to cutting out my pattern pieces. Once I had them all layed out I had a moment of perfectionistic panic.

Oh no! What I have I gotten myself into????

What if this turns out to be a total train wreck and I am labeled a failure forever?!?!? 

Take a deep breath Amy, you will never know until you try.

Ok...It's go time!

I made a pot of coffee, turned on some Hulu and got to work. It took me three days to make the bag because of having to stop to take care of the darn kids play lovingly with my children, but I got it done!

The part that took the longest was doing the applique on the front flap. Brooklyn and I decided to flip the flap so that the lining was on the outside and I am thrilled with the way that it turned out. My stitching is a little wonky on the letter, but the stitching around the heart is my favorite.

The tutorial was so easy to follow and I will definitely make this bag again and again. Thanks Larissa for a great tutorial that even a newbie like me can follow!!!

Here is the front

This is what the back looks like...Love the pocket, but next time I will make sure to put the opening for turning on the bottom. Grrrrr! Let it GO Amy.

This is the inside lining with three small pencil pockets and one larger pocket for um, hand sanitizer?

I will most likely be adding a D ring to the strap to make it adjustable because I made the strap a little too long. Also, the next time I make one of these I will be using a heavier fabric or adding a thicker interfacing to give the bag more structure.

I  am making a matching pencil case and tissue case to go inside her bag and have already collected some Smencils and note cards and a notebook to put inside as a surprise. :)