Sporty Strap Pack - On The Go Bags

For Christmas my awesome husband got me the On The Go Bags book (and I only had to send him the link twice!) but I haven't had a chance to do more than thumb through it and dream of having spare time to make most of the patterns, which includes some organizers and other neat things...One of the ones I knew I'd eventually make was the cover bag, a one strap style backpack/purse.  Then the authors decided to run a sew along and I was hoping I'd be able to squeeze in one during the event, just because deadlines mean I'll get things actually finished!

Tula Pink Chipper and True Colors fabrics

Adjustable strap with release so you don't have to struggle to get it over your head...even though it's super easy to do!

Jump ahead to May (only 5 months of owning a book before using it? New record for speed!) and I realized I needed to get a jump on teacher gifts.  This year was another year of great teachers, so I let the kids each pick out the style of purse they wanted and the fabrics from my stash.  My youngest picked a bold Tula Pink print for her teacher, and the Sporty Strap Pack (with only a little encouragement for me...which was pretty much me showing her the picture of the bag and her saying, "Can I have one too?").  Since her teacher is always on the go with her own kids that play sports, I thought it was a good match!  If nothing else, she can use it on field trips and the kids will be able to spot her anywhere! LOL!

It's pure coincidence the squirrel ended up there...sewing late at night means I don't even know what I'm doing half the time.

The bag is a little smaller than I pictured, but I bet you can cram a lot of stuff in it!   I like how the zipper is against your back when you wear it, but also protected by a facing so it's not digging into your back!

I hid a "Handmade" antique brass zipper pull in there, Love the zipper bling from Emmaline Bags!

The picture tutorial for the sew along helped me SO MUCH, but I don't know if it was sewing at 1 am or needing a few more pictures, the final step of finishing off the top strap had me stumped for a while.  I think it was probably tired brain.  I finally 'made it work' and then when I put the last piece on top, it ended up not even mattering because you couldn't see my 'special' assembly!

More Tula Pink Chipper!

I actually loved the inside fabric and combo much more, but my youngest picked the placement for each fabric, so I went along with that...Maybe my next one will be a little less, um, Awesome.  Yes, let's go with that.  ;)  By the end of it, I did kind of fall in love with it, and I think I will be making more of these, eventually!  I could see some waterproof fabric on the outside for a perfect theme park bag...maybe I need to start experimenting with my fusible vinyl and Disney fabrics!

Tune in next week for a closer look at the other purse I made in one night, the India by Swoon (one frantic, fast paced night that is!)