Small Oriole Bag in Cat Print

This is the Oriole Bag in size small, a free pdf from Sew Sweetness. I made the large Oriole a few years ago and had wanted to make the small for a long time. The large was a bit too big, but I really like this small size. It's actually not that small as it measures 12" wide x 8" high x 2" deep.

Sew Sweetness is having a challenge this month on her blog. The challenge is to make any Sew Sweetness bag with an animal theme. So I chose a couple of cat prints. The winner will be randomly chosen, so this is not about making the best looking bag. I made a few changes of course and added a vertical zipper pocket inside the bag, and a strap with 2 fabrics, added rivets, and an accent strip on the center flap too.

I wanted a zipper pocket on the bag, but because of the darts, I had to add the zipper pocket vertically. I sewed the pocket to the dart within the seam allowance on both to keep the pocket in place.

A small slip pocket here and you might be wondering what that brown square is, well I will tell you. It is a piece of Ultra Suede that I glued there to cover up the metal prongs of the magnetic snap. I had added a magnetic snap in the construction of the bag, however I placed it on the front of the bag incorrectly and the flap sat up too high. I needed to do something to make it workable and even if I could rip out the magnetic snap I installed it would leave holes and look a mess. So I decided to add another female snap to the front of the bag in the proper position and I had to cover up the prongs inside the bag, so Ultra Suede and glue the the rescue. It works, but then I had an extra female snap on the front and in order to avoid confusion as to which snap was the correct snap to use, I glued a cat button over the mistake snap. I didn't get a photo of the button though. I did such a good job with the bag, I cannot believe I screwed up the snap. I guess I was reading about where to place the twist lock (that the pattern directions call for, although she did also mention using a magnetic snap, but failed to point out where on the front to place the snap, only the twist lock). Well I won't make that mistake again! I did save this bag to make it functional and all works well with it, so I just need to explain it to whoever might buy the bag what happened and sell it for less because of my goof. I will wait to sell this one whenever I can do craft shows again. I don't want to list this on on Etsy, unless someone see this and contacts me they want to buy it and then I can do a custom listing on Etsy for just them.

Another sweet kitty print on the lining flap. I also used this print a bit on the strap and the slip pocket inside the bag.

Back of the bag.

Back of the bag.

Okay another confession of why I added the accent strip here is because I didn't have enough of the cat fabric to make the flap. I had 2 pieces of this cat fabric instead of one larger piece that need to be placed on the fold. So I thought if I could add a piece of fabric and sew the cat print to either side of a strip of fabric it would be wide enough to then cut out the flap. But you know it was a happy accident and I think it gives the bag a bit more pizzazz! I may just purposely add an accent strip of fabric on other bag that have flaps too. The brown is the same fabric I used for most of the strap, so it coordinates well.

So you see sometimes you need to get creative when things aren't working your way or you make a mistake. All's well that ends well.
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