Magnolia Mini Messenger Madness - #1 Stormtrooper Style

When I joined the swap in the Blue Calla Sewing group, I was looking for an excuse to try some of her the other patterns and also, I love swaps!  Originally I was going to try the Snowdrop, but when I saw the Magnolia on my swapee's list of wants, I decided to try it instead!  Picking a fabric for someone you don't really know and can't directly ask if they like something (secret swap!) makes it more challenging, but also a bit more fun!  Since I hadn't done this pattern before, I wanted to do a practice one first.  Not that I usually do practice ones, but it was a good excuse to make an extra one.  ;)  Instead of just one 'practice' bag, I kept pulling out more fabric combos and ended up making 4!

Sugar skull style!

All together!

Do you need your own clone army?

This was my first try at assembly lining the process, and I think I will try it again, as soon as I'm all caught up on orders!  Cutting out 4 sets of interfacing was pretty boring, but it took less time than if I had done them individually.  Fusing 4 sets also took a while, but it was really nice when as soon as I finished sewing one, I had another one ready to go and didn't have to start the cutting and fusing process again!  Actual sewing took me 2 evenings worth of time, and that was while watching Netflix!  ;)

The Magnolia is called a 'mini' messenger, but I'd consider it more of a medium messenger.  It's not big enough for a laptop, but it's not tiny either!  It's more of a medium handbag sized, perfect for carrying every day!  Inside would easily fit a tablet, wallet, book, and maybe even a water bottle, plus some little odds and ends... maybe I should fill one to see how much I can cram in it!  :D

First time using a ring like this for my connector

(Since they all turned out so pretty, I think they each deserve their own blog post! Watch for numbers 2-4 coming soon!)

I found all the Stormtrooper fabrics at my local Joann's!  I bought the entire bolt of the fancy helmets...so I should probably make some more things with it...

The lining is a thicker canvas style fabric, and the black is a really neat textured vinyl.  (I found them both at Wal-mart!)  The squares alternate with recessed and raised, and the raised ones have a soft almost fluffy texture.  I could pet it all day...

Close up, it's actually all black, but the camera picked up the shiny squares as grey for some reason...

 Would you like this bag as your very own?  It's available on Etsy!