Bella Bag: My Version Made as a Cross Body Bag

Hello my lovely flowers. I wanted to make myself a cross body bag, but which one? I have a lot of patterns from several designers, so I looked through them all and nothing really hit me as to what I wanted to make. So I thought, what is it that I really want in a cross body bag, besides being cross body? There are several style bags I like, such as Hobo, Messenger, Saddle Bag, etc. 

The more I thought about what I like and want and need in a bag, the Original Bella Bag (by ChrisW Designs kept jumping out at me. Bella is a retired pattern.  When Christine designed the updated Bella II bag some years ago, she retired the Original Bella. I know why she wanted to retire Bella, because Christine has so many more updated ways of sewing her bags now, that it seemed a bit too dated. I tested the Bella II for Christine and I love that Bella version too. I made 2 original Bella Bags before Bella II came out.

Both Bella versions are rather large bags. Now I love that they hold a lot of stuff and if I take my large wallet with me, my keys, reader glasses in their case, sunglasses in their case, a pen, a small pad of paper, that really does take up a lot of space and my bag becomes heavy. Carrying all that on my shoulder is starting to be a bit too much. Oftentimes I will take a smaller bag with me and only take my keys, a little wallet with just my ID and license and one credit card and a bit of cash, and wear my sunglasses so that I don't have too much with me, but that depends on where I am going and what I need. 

So as I was looking at the Original Bella, I thought about the changes I could make to make it cross body and add and subtract some of the things on the bag, so here is what I changed:

• First thing I did was to print the pattern pieces at 90% to make the bag a bit smaller as I didn't want it to be quite as large of a bag.
• I had to reshape the curve of the bag top so it didn't have 2 straps and stick up so high.
• I didn't make the side pockets as they would be too small being I made this at 90% and I wanted to add strap connectors on the sides.
• I added some binding pieces to cover up the raw edge of the side connector straps and placed another one above it and added rivets to the connector straps too.
• I also wanted to open the bag a bit easier and faster so I didn't want to add that narrow flap closure and instead added the magnetic snap to the upper lining to make it quicker to open the bag.
• I added some rickrack to the upper front pocket and sewed a line down the center of the pocket to divide the pocket into 2 pockets and added a rivet at the top of the dividing stitch line.
• The bottom of the bag where the Heavy Weight Stabilizer base is, I quilted it to the bag bottom to make sure it stayed in place.
• I sewed the back zipper pocket so that I turned the bag through the bottom of the zipper pocket instead of leaving an opening in the lining.
• Inside I added some rivets to the top corners of the pockets. 
• I hadn't made the Bella in quite a few years and I forgot about the little gap at the start of the zipper pocket inside. So I sewed a button to cover that gap up, which I didn't do until the bag was finished because I forgot. I made a note on the pattern to sew the zipper differently with zipper tabs at each end instead of bending the zipper back as in the instructions, if I make another Bella in the future. I am sure Christine would have updated this step too. In fact, on Bella II she did sew that inside zipper pocket differently.

Okay so now to see my Bella Bag as a cross body bag:

I had just enough of this Chrysanthemum fabric to make this bag. Chrysanthemums are my birth month flower (November).

There is some text written in gray on the fabric that reads, Chrysanthemums: the Symbol for Long Life & Harmony.

The side connectors I added with binding strips horizontally and added rivets.

One thing I forgot about was that the lining isn't as snug a fit as Christine's newer patterns. Mainly because you cut the lining using the same pattern pieces as the exterior and sew with the same seam allowance. Christine has come a long way baby with her bag designs; because she always has the main lining pieces as separate and smaller pieces to achieve a really nice and snug fit. If I had remembered this, I would have sewed the lining with a larger seam allowance. Oh well, once my stuff is inside it won't show and only I will know (and anyone reading this, lol)!

My after thought button I sewed on to cover up the little gap there next to the zipper pull. I made notes to change how this is sewn by using zipper tabs if I make another Bella.

The back of Bella has a zipper pocket. 

Unzipped the pocket to show my pretty lining.

The divided front pocket I created by sewing it in half.

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The New Bella II Handbag

Now that the new Bella II pattern is out at available at ChrisW Designs, I can show you mine. I was one of Christine's testers for this bag. Christine retired the old Bella so she could update the pattern not only in looks, but in how some things are sewn too, such as the straps and interior zipper pocket. I think Bella II is gorgeous! While I still like the original Bella, I think I may like this updated new Bella a bit more. Go here to see all of the testers bags. Some testers added the grommets on the front of their bags and some didn't. The grommets are a design element that you can choose to add or leave if off, you decide. I rather like the look of the grommets and the bow.

 There is a 20% off discount if you purchase the Bella II, good only at ChrisW Designs website. If you purchased the original Bella, you can get 50% off the new Bella II!!! The sale is good through September 30, 2015 (Australia time).

Here is my new Bella II~

I used 2 batik fabrics and the pink is a hand dyed fabric that I dyed several years ago. I also used the pink for the lining fabric.

Grommets with a ribbon bow. I added 2 ribbons. One is an organza ribbon that picks up the aqua color. There are 2 large front pockets: the pink pocket is divided in half with stitching and the aqua pocket has the 2 grommets that help to create the division of the aqua pocket, although it's still  really one large pocket.

The side view. I added a zipper pull to the recessed zipper. The charm is a handbag too!

The recessed zipper. I used a plastic teeth zipper I had on hand that was the right size.

She holds a lot of my stuff inside!

I placed my pen pocket in the center, rather than on the one side as the directions instruct. That way my pen pocket divides the larger pocket in half when you sew the pen pocket in place. My "Pick A Pocket Wallet" (another ChrisW Design) looks pretty inside the Bella II.

Across from the slip pockets here is a zippered pocket that has another slip pocket behind it.

I made a little notebook cover using selvages a long time ago so I could always have paper and pens with me to jot down ideas. That slip pocket is the perfect size to slip in my little notebook.

Back of Bella II.

I make my own zipper pulls. I made 3 for this bag: this one for the back zippered pocket, one for the inside zippered pocket and one for the recessed zipper.

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Bella Bag #1

I made the Bella Bag, designed by ChrisW Designs for my daughter. A friend of mine had given me a woven wool poncho that had fringe on the bottom. It was a nice poncho, but when I put it on it was rather itchy. My daughter had wanted me to make her a Bella Bag in brown corduroy, but I didn't have any corduroy at the time. She definitely wanted a dark brown bag though and then I got the idea to use the brown poncho material to make the bag. So I washed it first to felt it slightly and then cut out the pattern pieces. The wool sewed nicely, but got thick in certain areas, especially the straps around the swivel hooks. So this is an upcycled or re-purposed or even a green bag, I suppose.  I am really pleased with how this bag turned out. Oh and daughter loves it too. (Thanks Tara for the poncho; it made a great bag!)

I had been wanting to make the Bella for quite a while and I am glad I finally bought the pattern. If you love this bag too, you better buy the pattern soon, because Christine of ChrisW Designs said she will be retiring it soon. Really Christine? It's too great of a bag to retire it!

I am currently sewing my Bella #2 for myself and will post that one after it's finished.

The Bella Bag front.

Side view showing one of those great side pockets, which is perfect for daughter's phone.

Zipper pull I made for the zippered pocket on the back of the bag.

Back of the bag with the zippered pocket.

Inside slip pocket with label. I made this Bella Bag for my daughter.

Interior pockets: includes a zippered pocket with a slip pocket behind it and another divided slip pocket across from it. I divided the one pocket to include a pen pocket and I slipped a pen into that pocket and a small notebook into the other as you can see.

The front has a nice large pocket and a flap tab closure.

I added a stacked button on the flap tab.

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