Satchel It

This is the third time, I've made this "Satchel It" purse pattern by Nancy Ota. I always get compliments on mine when I carry it, so I thought it would be a nice gift for someone special.

The only thing missing yet is a pull for the zipper tab. That will be a colorful piece of ultrasuede.

I like to make the purse with old jeans. When you use the jean pockets on the exterior, you get two extra pockets for a total of eight pockets! And jean pockets are the perfect size for a cell phone.

I like that the pattern has lots of inside pockets too - you can create as many as six of them. It's great to make them with clear vinyl, so you can see what's inside.

Here I'm sewing pre-made double wide binding to the edges of the vinyl.

With a little home-made cording (I use Susan Cleveland's Piping Hot Binding tool), you can really spiff-up the look of the purse. This binding is a bias cut rainbow stripe.

The Satchel It pattern calls for petscreen. I most often use black petscreen purchased from the local Lowes home improvement store.

Take a look inside the purse. See all the pockets? There's also a nice firm bottom (don't we wish we all had one?) made from a piece of foam core covered with fabric.
Five hours of sewing time, but I'm really not counting. The recipient is worth every second.