February 16, 2017

Ellen's Esplanade by Chris W Designs




I was thrilled to test this new Easy Street pattern, Ellen's Esplanade from Chris W Designs. Christine's patterns are always so thorough with lots of pictures to help along the way.  The Easy Street Series are bags that take less time than her regular patterns but still help you produce a bag that is very professional looking.  I'm so ready for summer weather that I had to get summery with my fabrics.  Here she is...


Ellen's Esplanade measures 15"W (at the top) x 11.5"H x 5.5"D.  There are seams in the front of the bag and in the back, but none on the sides.  


There are very deep pockets on each side of the exterior to which the adjustable strap is attached.


Here is a side view of the pockets.


It is so roomy thanks to the boxed bottom. There is a zipper pocket on the inside.  If you need more pockets, Christine has a pocket supplement available that gives you a great set of pockets to add.



It closes with a recessed zipper.

You can see all of the testers' bags here.  You can purchase the pattern here. I think you will really love this one!

February 15, 2017

Cosmetic Bag Duo by Cozy Nest Design





I'm back again with another new Cozy Nest Design pattern.  This one is called the Cosmetic Bag Duo.  I love testing for Sarah at Cozy Nest and when she mentioned seat belt webbing again, I raised my hand high to test again.  I love this medium.

The Cosmetic Bag Duo includes directions for 2 sizes.  I made the large size which is 9.75"W x 7.5"H x 2.75"D.  The small has one less column of webbing and measures 7.75"W x 6.5"H x 2.25"D.









The pattern has a sale price of $4.50 until Feb 25, 2017.  You can find it here.  Sarah also sells webbing kits for this project and many other seat belt webbing patterns she has.  You can find the webbing kits for this project here.
Be sure to check out some of her other bags in the Seat Belt Series here.  I especially love the Market Tote.


February 3, 2017

Belinda Bag by Cozy Nest Designs






Wow, it is hard to believe that I haven't posted in 6 months.  I have continued to sew...it is my therapy. I have been testing some new patterns, some that I can share shortly and some that will take a while to appear.  So let me show you the first test bag I can show.

I have to say that I love testing for Sarah from Cozy Nest Design because I can always be sure that her bags will be unique and fun.  Not to mention that the pattern itself will be thorough and easy to understand. Remember the Seat Belt Bags I have done...yep those were Sarah's.

Here is the newest bag from Cozy Nest Design...The Belinda Bag.  Here are the fabrics I chose to go with. The solid brown is a textured faux leather.  That was used for the flap and strap. The second gray and brown fabric is a quilting cotton and it was used for the exterior bag fabric.  The two-toned brown fabric is also a quilting cotton and was used for the lining.



This pattern comes in two sizes, a small that measures  11" x 9.5" x 4" and a large that measures  13" x 11" x 4.25".  I chose to make the small size.




The only change I made to the pattern was increase the strap length so it can be worn as a cross body.












The inside has a zippered pocket. The small bag is the perfect size for just the essentials.

The Belinda Bag pattern is on sale for $5 until Feb. 14, 2017.  You can get the pattern, get more info and see all of the tester bags here.