Summer tote

Last summer, before I was pregnant and sick and exhausted, I decided I needed a summer bag. Nothing leather (i.e. heavy and sticky in New York heat and humidity) and not the ubiquitous LL Bean tote bag: I needed something sort of fun, lightweight, and colorful. And this is what I came up with:





The solid and striped canvas fabrics are from my favorite fabric store, B&J, here in NYC. I didn't buy much, but I was happy that I had enough left over to make the little cosmetic case.

The bag turned out well, and I like it a lot, but it wasn't easy to make. Especially with a standard sewing machine - I really needed a long-arm machine to construct and to do a lot of the topstitching.

Anyway, I'm in the midst of packing for our three-week adventure in Barcelona and I came across the bag. Thought it would be fun to post something about it now that this summer is almost over and I'm starting to pull out the fall clothing, etc. It's too bad I didn't use the tote bag this summer, but it's not really stroller-friendly or helpful for carrying diaper bag-type items. Maybe next year, or the year after that...

Regarding Barcelona, Todd is working on a project there for the foreseeable future, and rather than fly back and forth on weekends to see us, it will be more fun for us and less exhausting for him if Little and I go there for a while. I'm looking forward to exploring the city, which is rumored to be very walkable. And who knows, maybe I'll find some great fabric and craft stores!