Creative Impulse: Bag Without a Pattern

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So, Thursday at work, I was hit with inspiration to sew a bag that would let me have easy access to a few of my paranormal tools when investigating. I mean, men have jackets with an assload of pockets. Women's jeans aren't made to really hold a lot of devices. I was looking at a vest, like a fishermans vest, but they are UGH-LEE! (Wow, just had another idea, I'll save it for later in the blog entry*)

So, I decided to make a bag, open on the top for easy grabbing of stuff. It would have a few good size pockets, one large pocket, and the strap would have something to slip an audio recorder in, so I wouldn't have to hold it, and could use my hands for other tools. Hah. That almost sounded dirty. Anyway. I'm not much of a seamstress. My mother in law taught me how to thread a bobbin, thread my machine and push the pedal and sew! That's pretty much my knowledge base.So I knew that I'd have to make it super easy so I wouldn't get frustrated and frog the whole thing. I'm going to try to post a tutorial with photos when I make my next one (if this one holds up tonight), but I wanted to share how easy this was. It took less than an hour to make the bag part - it has four outside pockets, and one big section in the middle. I use the quilted material, because there is usually a contrasting pattern on one side, so it makes it easy. Plus it's a little padded and thick, so I don't have to use "interfacing?" I think that's what its called. I really have no idea what that is.The quilted material is a little expensive ($20 / yard), but if you wait until it goes on sale, then its usually only $10-$15, and you can make several projects. I have a brushroll and a few cosmetic bags (figured an easy way to do this, too) made from a yard of quilted material.

Anyway, the strap took longer than the bag, because I hit a snag- originally I wanted to have elastic straps to hold the recorder, but that was a total fail, so I made a contrasting pocket instead, which seemed to have worked pretty well. Wide double fold bias tape covers the raggedy edge of the quilted fabric, and voila! I had no idea how to sew on the strap, so we'll see how well I did with that.

*I just had a thought- maybe it would be possible to make a sash with pockets (think girl scout or miss america). I saw some low-key black quilted fabric when I picked this up. It would have to be wide, and the right length...  but could work, and would still be a better alternate to ugly vests for women.

I'll try to get a tutorial put up this week on this project, or how to make a super easy cosmetic bag. Its fun to make random stuff!