Bag of the Month Club - February's Hyacinth Bag

For Christmas I asked my Mom for a subscription to the Bag of the Month club, which is 6 patterns that are released on the first of the month, by 6 different designers.  I had the subscription last year and made two of the purses, (Bye Bye Love and the Midtown Messenger)  but I really would love to make more of them.  Since I was so slow last year, I decided to try to keep up and make the purses BEFORE the club ended, especially since there are prizes for completing them! 

(This picture is pretty true to color, and I LOVE those colors!)

January's bag didn't jump out and say "MAKE ME NOW" (but it's kind of growing on me), and I was super busy in January with a birthday party and then the Sugar and Spice sew along, so I didn't get a chance to work on it anyway.  Then I had the order for the Betty Bowler and other things kept cropping up in February, so I didn't have time until last month to finally get started on February's bag, Hyacinth.  It's not a 'normal' cross body bag, with the flap only going over the front pocket and not the zipper, but it has a lot of neat features and lays very nice across the body.

(Top zipper for the main compartment)

For the fabric, I dug into my stash of Tula Pink Salt Water, and my scraps of the OctoGarden. I also found an AMAZING embroidery pattern on Urban Threads, also designed by Tula Pink that I felt really needed to be the focus of the flap. Add in some of my Salt Water ribbon, and Ta-Da! I almost couldn't give this one up! 

I changed the front flap to include a big pocket and a smaller phone/accessory pocket under that pocket.  I just didn't feel secure with card pockets right out there, and it seemed like a lot of wasted space to me.

(The last scraps of my Octo Garden fabric, so hard to cut into!)

(Hidden slip pocket that would hold a pretty large phone)

Inside the bag has two slip pockets, with a zipper closure.

On the back is a zippered pocket.

(The fabric has mermaid tails and submarines hidden in it!)

  I didn't want the zipper end flapping around, so I added on a coordinating snap to hold it down, but it can still be opened up fully.

(I'm using up my millions of Kam snaps, one set at a time)

That embroidery took forever to finish due to dense stitches, but it really gives a nice texture and looks so pretty in person!  I can't even describe how excited I was when I saw that Urban Threads has Tula Pink coordinating embroidery!  Now if they'd only get the octopus and flourish that goes with it I'd be set for life! :D

(I'm not sure if they are having an epic stare down or gazing lovingly into each others eyes)

Watch for this bag to show up in the Etsy shop soon!