Madison Bag

I made this Madison Bag by Two Peas in a Pod Designs. It is for a sew along that I am hosting, for the same bag (click here to join in on the Madison Bag Sew Along!). It is a pieced bag, with a magnetic snap and a flap closure. The completed bag is around 10″ tall by 14″ wide, without the strap.

Fabric – For this bag, I used prints from Heather Ross’s Far Far Away lines. The pattern requires 4 fat quarters for the exterior, although I used scraps. I strategically cut them so that the prints would be toward the bottom of the panels; this is so that the flap would not cover the little characters. Also, I used 1/2 yard of fabric for the exterior and 1/8 yard for the straps. Fusible fleece is the interfacing named in the pattern, although I didn’t have any, so I used fusible woven interfacing (and my flap is batting quilted to the lining fabric).

The darts on my bag exterior

Pattern Pieces – There are several paper pattern pieces to cut out. Three of the pieces are for the exterior, to create the patchwork effect. When you arrive at cutting the interfacing pieces, instead of using a pattern piece, you’ll just be using the sewn exterior panels to trace over your interfacing. Additionally, the strap is made with rectangular measurements.

My quilted lining flap

Illustrations/Instructions – The illustrations are well-written and the photographs are large and very clear. There were a couple parts that I thought could be elaborated on, but if you have made a bag before, you should be fine.

When I inserted the snap into the flap, I placed the center of the snap at approximately 1-1/2″ from the finished edge of the flap. I didn’t insert the snap into the exterior of the bag until I had sewn it all together, right after I turned it right side out through a hole in the lining. I pulled my flap down and positioned it where I would like the flap to close on the bag, and made a mark there with my fabric marker. Then I cut slits for the magnetic snap and installed it (I always like to use a piece of Peltex, or 2 pieces of fleece, approximately 1.5″ square; this gives the metal snap something to hold onto, so it doesn’t wear away at your exterior fabric. You can see the interfaced side of my bag, and the piece of Peltex through the snap, in the picture below).

When I proceeded to sew the darts into the exterior of the bag, the pattern calls for you to sew the exterior front and back panels together first, and then sew the darts, seams from the front and back touching. I tried sewing like this the first time around, and probably due to user error, I got several pointy edges in my fabric (see photo below). So I ripped the seams and first sewed the darts together for each individual piece (bring the raw edges of the ‘V’ together, then sew a 1/4″ seam down that edge), then I sewed the front of the exterior to the back of the exterior, right sides together. It gave me a more smooth corner. I’d done this with the Keyka Lou Curvy Clutch that I made last year.

For my flap, in place of rick rack or other embellishment, I decided to applique a little pink frog fabric into the upper right-hand corner of the flap. I’m not really sure how I feel about this…I probably should have just left it off.

I cut about 12″ off my strap after trying it on, because the bag ended up hanging past my butt. The pattern designer does note the drop of the bag in the pattern, and suggests you trim the strap to fit your preference. I would definitely make sure you like the length of it, right after you attach it to the exterior of the bag.

Conclusion -This sewing pattern would be suitable for a confident beginner or intermediate sewer. When my husband saw this bag, he said that he didn’t like the fabrics that I used, and I almost fainted (I guess I can’t really explain to him the significance of Heather Ross prints, lol). This bag would make a cute small purse, or a great bag for a little girl.

P.S. I’m linking up to Sew Modern Monday, Fabric Tuesday, and Sew and Tell Friday!