I did it! I made a bag! It’s definitely not perfect, but for my first bag, I am SO happy with it. I followed Anna from Noodlehead‘s pattern for the Go Anywhere Bag, and it was quite easy to follow, even for an absolute beginner like me.

Going into making this bag, I was extremely, unnaturally scared of the whole process. I was seriously terrified! A huge thank you goes out to Sarah Fredett from Smiles too Loudly, for being there as real-time support on Instagram when I first got started on the pattern. Sarah walked me through the tangled mystery of interfacing, and helped me gain that first bit of confidence to forge ahead. Thank you SO much, Sarah!

Anna’s pattern was very clear and specific, going as far as to suggest little triangles at the tops of each pocket to reinforce the opening (genius!?). The images in the pattern were a great help for me, a visual learner. The steps were clear and well sequenced, and I feel like I was able to follow along without too much reading ahead or back-tracking to make sense of it all. It is my first bag ever, but most definitely not my last! (I’ve already bought a bit of the coveted Anna Maria Horner Field Study Feathers-Parenthetical Linen in the Deep colorway for my next bag. Shhh!).

While this bag did not include the installation of a zipper, I’m proud to say that not only did I create pleats for the first time, but I also installed two magnetic snaps and sewed inner pockets (not to mention taming the dreaded interfacing). Go me!

I think of myself as a very practical person, so choosing a white-based fabric for the outside was initially a hesitation. Before making the bag, I figured since I loved the fabric so much, I would go ahead and use it for the front and back pockets (aka the feature fabric), but would only use the bag for special occasions. Now that the bag is complete, I can’t help but use it as my everyday purse. Sure, it probably will get dirty, but it’s pretty fabulous in the meantime!

Like I said, since it’s my first bag, it’s far from perfect. I had quite a bit of difficulty maneuvering the whole thing in a smooth manner through my domestic machine, so there are wiggle waggles in the stitching here and there. All you expert bag-makers extraordinaire (Hillary, you’re on the top of this list!)–how do you smoothly finagle thick layers of bag under your machine?! I am clearly in need of some tips!

I also made the executive decision to create two impromptu pleats in the back pocket to ensure that the front and back pocket tops lined up with each other. The alternative would have been a smooth back pocket, but completely unaligned pockets on one edge (shudder).

All in all, making this bag was a really fun activity. I’m proud of myself for biting the bullet and trying something new, and I’m excited to try making more bags! Next up will be a zip pouch–small, but with a (dun dun DUN) zipper!

I didn’t get very many great photos of my bag, since I had my usual helper with me. He’s pretty cute, though, huh? It’s worth the bit of blur, and he certainly seemed ready to go anywhere with my new bag! (I’m leaving out the photos of him actually taking off running with my bag, since I realized post-photo that our messy house litters the background!)

I’m linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday. Bag #1: done and done!