Stow It All Tote - pattern testing

I had the privilege of being picked to test again for ChrisW Designs. Her bags are usually very involved with great details and fun hardware that makes them amazing, so when she said it was going to be an "easy" bag, I figured it would be a quick one. Well, for her it was "easy", but it still has a great amount of detail and fun features!

(I love this Bag!)

(Back side, more pockets!)

The outside has 6 pockets, 3 on each side, with the center one having a twist lock to keep stuff in.  I thought it would be a great excuse to play around with my embroidery machine and make it even fancier.  I 'accidentally on purpose' ended up with a gap between my two designs that perfectly fit the twist lock.  I bet I couldn't do that again without a lot of math and careful measurements!  LOL!  I did increase the flap size a little to make sure my design didn't end up in the seam and the twist lock still matched up.

(My camera somehow catches the grain lines in stuff, or makes it up.  It's worse at smaller pictures sizes so you get a GIANT one here, sorry. ...At least I mostly got the pattern centered and aligned without a lot of  fudging.)

(I used a twist lock with screws, my first time trying it!)

The top closes with a recessed zipper and inside there are more slip pockets and a zipper pocket.  The instructions for the inset zipper were pretty easy to understand and I didn't have any trouble other than not clipping quite to the corners.  I was worried it would come undone, but the topstitching takes care of that.

(Inside, with the open zipper pocket)

Recently Christine was running a contest to show bag size in comparison with a real person since it's not easy to figure out how a bag will work for you until you hold it in your hands.  Not being that photogenic myself, I decided to show how the new tote compares to the other bags I've made.

(Left to Right:  Stow it all Tote, Uptown Girl Purse, Lombard Street Purse)

(Height comparison, Left to Right: Stow it all Tote, Uptown Girl Purse, Lombardo Street Purse, and Necessary Clutch Wallet by Emmaline Bags)

The Stow it All Tote is a large bag, I thought about a series of pictures showing what would fit inside, including our dog, but I didn't want him to freak out and try to eat it or anything. Instead I went for household items.  Does an iron fit in?

Why yes it does!  How about a giant skein of yarn?

It makes the sides bulge out a bit, but it fits! What about my Ipad?

Plenty of room to spare!How about a Fraggle?

Yep, she fits! LoL!

I think I'll be using this one as my new crochet tote, all the outside pockets will be great for hooks and scissors, plus I can put my folder of patterns inside and zip it shut, so no falling over and dumping everything out!  How would you use a tote like this?