Magical Charlotte (Swoon Pattern)

The next bag I sewed up from the Moonbeam Color Me Potter strike offs (affiliated link) was one I've owned but never sewn (another one to mark off my list!) the Charlotte by Swoon.  This is a tote bag with minimal pockets (only one!!) but the shape and style to it more than makes up for the lack of pockets!

The colors are so bright and vivid in person, so hard to find the right backdrop to make them pop!

Hapa Watercolor Wizards

The panel I used is child sized and was perfect sized for the front of this bag.  It's hard to get a picture of how pretty this purse is in person, the blue vinyl is shimmery glitter.  I paired the panel with Wizards Watercolor print from Hapa fabrics, but there will also be a somewhat similar coordinate of the kids released with the Color Me Potter round, in case you want to order everything together!

Full body shot

Side 1

Side 2

This is a slouchy style bag, but if it had more structure the fun inside connector wouldn't work as nicely.  Of course the slouch means that it wanted to just fall over most of the time I was trying to take pictures...was kind of like trying to photograph a kid!  For the lining, I pulled out my rainbow Robert Kaufman Effervescence fabric again, it really does go with so many different custom fabrics!

A rainbow explosion inside!

Connector makes it have the smaller shape and is amazingly out of the way when you use the magnets to close it

Test grommet

The only modifications I made to the pattern was to leave off the strap accent pieces and use grommets and clip connectors for the straps.  I was going to use some screw in grommets, but they were WAY too thick to get my connectors through (good thing I checked before putting them on!) so some 7/16" grommets ended up working for me.  I'm not sure how long I spent trying to find the perfect connectors, but if I had more of the edge connectors from Emmaline on hand (they are on their way from Canada!) that would have looked amazing too!

Sewing the connectors together before trimming everything

I decided to try a different way to do the connectors for the inside closure.  I cut one set of connectors and attached the magnets, then glued them to a piece of vinyl for the other side.  This way I could sew them down and then trim both sides together to get the edges to match nicely.  I think I'll probably do all the connectors that have a definite shape this way from now on, it gave me a good amount to grab onto and 'help' through the machine when it wants to grab the vinyl and since I trim key fobs all the time, I have great vinyl cutting scissors to make it look nice and even!

Can't forget Batman for scale!  He needs his cameo or he gets grumpy

One more purse coming this week!  The Always Rosie

Don't forget to preorder your fabric starting on February 1!  Moonbeam Color Me Potter
Affiliate Disclosure: I will receive compensation from Moon Beam Textile Company and Swoon Patterns when a purchase is made using the links in this post.