Yes, I have finally finished my On Target Bag, and I LOVE it. It is the perfect size for me. It has turned out to be 12" in diameter and 2.5" deep. It holds all my normal handbag stuff and also has room for a book and sock knitting. The strap is rather long but then it is a messenger bag, and the strap is adjustable.
One of the things I love most about the bag is the shape, and I found that when the bag wasn't full of stuff, it flopped and the base of the bag sagged and made the diameter look wider, ruining the "target". I used a strip of plastic grid and sewed it into the outer edge to brace the two sides away from each other. It gives the bag a much crisper look, and also enables it to stand up on it's edge (which I love).
I lined the bag with a very pretty fabric I picked up at Mary Clare yesterday. I love all her fabrics, and look for any excuse to buy them.
I am not a sewer, but I have ambitions to turn my hand to this craft. My bag linings are good step towards this accomplishment, as the actual bag hides a multitude of sins. This was my first attempt at installing a zip and I am quite proud of the result. I used the video embedded below from YouTube, by Fernfiddlehead. I didn't quite follow these instructions, but it certainly helped me understand the principles of how to start.
My zip has the right side of the fabric showing on both the inside and the outside of the bag. I am very proud of this fact, and it is what took the longest to achieve today. I'm sure I will find a clever and quick way of doing it, now I have spent hours working it out myself.
The aperture at the top of the bag is large enough to be closed together with magnets, clips or buttons, without pulling it out of shape. However, I decided to use a zip as I wanted to keep the nice cake shape all the way around the the bag.
Having a zip also feel a bit safer, as I quite often seem to empty my bag in the middle of the room, when knocking it over. Scrabbling around on the floor is not my idea of a good time, so the zip is for me.
The pattern for this bag is currently being written up and once I find testers it will be released.
