Are you over on Instagram? Myself along with a super awesome friend cohost swaps every now and then and we have SO MUCH FUN seeing what a bunch of awesome makers and sewists whip up for one another. I picked my partner and after seeing her wants in a bag, started to work on the Swoon Belle Baby Bag.
Hands down the longest part of making this bag was cutting and interfacing all the pieces, I swear it felt like they kept multiplying as I went. So. Many. Pieces.
My partner listed her preferred fabrics and I pulled a couple choices tried to pick what I thought was her favorite. These Melody Miller prints from her Playful line for Cotton and Steel were begging to be paired with some pink glitter vinyl.
This was my first time making bias with vinyl and it was super easy. I love the pop it gives on the exterior pockets, it's such a fun touch. I love working with the glitter vinyl from Sew Sweetness. It's so easy to work with on my domestic machine. It's not as thick as most of the glitter vinyls and sews up like a dream. She stocks a ton of different colors and I can get a lot of milage out of one roll. I still have enough after making this bag to use for handles or a strap on another.
Belle is a hearty bag, and after I was finished I was surprised at how structured she came together. She was a bit smaller than I expected, but still sized ample enough as a diaper bag or as and overnight bag.
The obligatory bling! This bag doesn't require a handbag zipper for the top, and I just used a smaller zipper I had. The only problem I had by not using a long pull zipper what that it was a little harder to grab onto the pull to use the zip. This was easily fixed by a swanky zipper pull from Emmaline Bags.
I love that this bag is a great multi tasker. It was designed as a diaper bag, but it doesn't LOOK like a diaper bag. The exterior has 4 pockets, 2 cargo style pockets on both the front and back and deep side pockets on either side. There is a detachable adjustable cross body strap, because really, who walks around carrying a diaper or traveler in their hands?
Overall, I really enjoyed sewing this bag. The pattern was easy to follow and aside from a lot of prepwork, sewed up pretty quickly. If you are looking for a diaper bag that doesn't look like a diaper bag, this is the perfect pattern.
