If you are a regular around here, you'll know that we like a cruise for our main holiday each year. Our sea days have a fairly predictable timetable and there are certain things that I like to carry around the ship with me, but I don't have a suitable bag and I've been 'making do' for years. This summer I started to look for something that would suit my needs, a bag with enough pockets to organise my paraphernalia, including a spot to keep a drink bottle upright. I failed to find anything I liked and was planning to make my own when I went to a conference and was given a tote bag that was about the right size, but was branded and still lacked the pockets I wanted.
However, I decided that this bag was a good basis for what I wanted and that it would be much easier to adapt this one than to make a new one from scratch.
I raided my fabrics box and found an offcut of cotton canvas which I could use for the internal pockets, and the quilt cover that I made for our son when he was a toddler (he's now 27), which I decided to cut up and repurpose. The farmyard print may have been bought for a child's room but I don't feel that the colours and pattern are themselves childish.
Internally, the bag already had one pocket, shown at the bottom of the photo above. I added a large one suitable for my puzzle book and kindle with a small one for pen and pencil on the opposite side, and a sleeve at one end to hold my drink bottle. The main body of the bag still has space for a jumper or cardigan, something that didn't fit in my previous bag and I often ended up carrying separately.
At this point, the stitching for the pockets showed through to the outside of the bag, but that didn't matter as I intended to cover it. I used the original bag as a template for the cover and attached the two together with a double line of stitching around the top.
My sewing is a bit wonky in places, but overall I am very happy with my new tote bag and looking forward to using it this summer.
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