Ruffled Hobo

Quite some time ago, I won a jelly roll but as a non-quilter I had no idea what to do with this thing. All these little strips? I had just made a similar quilt and didn't want to do another just like it, so there it had sat. As I was cleaning up my sewing room from the ginormous mess I had created doing my pinwheel mini (seriously how does one person make such a mess?!). While straightening my shelves, I eyed the jelly roll once again. Aside from not knowing how to use it, the muted neutrals of the Moda Little Black Dress 2 are not my normal style. Then a thought popped into my head.

I pulled my copy of Sew Serendipity bags off the shelf and flipped through the projects and found what I was looking for: The Ruffled Hobo bag. I had admired that pattern since I bought the book almost 2 years ago, but knew I lacked the patience to cut so many strips and that the pattern looked much too advanced for me then. With a little more confidence and a full jelly roll to save me from all that cutting, I decided to go for it and began assembling the strips for the ruffles....so many ruffles.


Whoever came up with the dental floss trick for ruffles: I heart you.

The front panel came together quickly, but I honestly went rogue on the directions and kind of made it up as I went along. For some reason the directions weren't jiving with me late that evening. For that reason, I only made the front panel ruffled (that and I was seriously getting tired of ruffles).

I just pieced together several of the strips to make the back panel. As you can see, it's little slouchier than I normally make. I only used decor bond to interface the exterior panels, and Shape Flex 101 on the strap and lining. I did however, use some headliner fabric to stabilize the bottom/side panel as the pattern actually calls for Peltex. I think the headliner fabric was a decent substitute, as the remainder of the bag wasn't as structured either. I also top stitched the top of the bag (which isn't in the directions), as I noticed that the recessed zipper kept wanting to pop up. 

I changed the strap out, the pattern has pieces for the handle that use a large buckle, but I didn't have one on hand and I really just wanted to get it finished, so I made an adjustable strap instead. 

Since the exterior was so muted, I made the lining out of a bright green solid to give it some color. it's divided pocket is great for keeping your phone handy so you don't have to fish around in the bottom of the bag.

Overall, I'm happy with the bag, but I wish the directions had been slightly more clear. It would have saved me a lot of time figuring out how to make it on my own. I am surprised at how roomy it actually is, I expected that it wouldn't be large enough for my every day bag, but I was pleasantly surprised. 

I think I have the ruffles out of my system now.