May Bag of the Month: Seneca Creek Bag

The May bag from the Bag-of-the-Month Club was designed by Betz White and the bag is called Seneca Creek Bag. It's a small bag that you can wear across your body or even as a fanny pack, if you make the strap adjustable and use swivel hooks. For me this bag is not large enough to carry my everyday things like sunglasses case, reading glasses in a case, a wallet, a pen, pad of paper, keys, tissues, etc. However, it's a great bag for those who only like to take a few things with them. As I went out on a walk to find some nice places to photograph my bag, I wore the bag and placed my camera inside. When I saw a tree or 2 that I thought I could use to take the photo, I took out the camera and placed the bag on the tree. You know what? This is the perfect size camera bag! If I had known that before making the bag, I might have used byAnnie's Soft and Stable stabilizer (or other similar stabilizer) for extra padding. I did use a non-fusible fleece and that works well too, as long as I don't drop the bag with the camera inside! But since I made the strap to wear across my body, the camera should stay nice and secure inside the bag.

I made a few minor changes to the bag. Instead of using D-rings and lobster swivel hooks, I decided to make my side tabs a bit longer and insert eyelets instead of the D-rings. I was going to use the swivel hooks too, but they kept swiveling the strap so that the wrong side of the strap was showing. I opted to just tie a double knot after inserting the strap through the eyelets. It worked well.

Another change I made was in sewing on the flap. There was just too much bulk to sew it on according to the instructions, so I did mine a bit differently and added 2 rows of top-stitching. I love the look of the front pocket and flap.

I also made my strap longer and didn't add the adjustable buckle. I measured how long of a strap I would need and added extra to knot the ends to the eyelets. I thought the measurements in the instructions for an adjustable strap was too short to wear across my body. I like the bag to lie at my hip. I am 5' 3" tall and since we are all different sizes and wear our bags differently, you need to make sure that the length of strap in the instructions will fit you. It's easy to measure across yourself with a tape measure to where you want the bag to lie.

Here's my version of the bag~

Front pocket and flap.

Side of the bag.

Inside the bag has a zippered pocket.

Back of the bag.

I made my strap to go across my body, but I didn't add an adjustable buckle. My strap is also longer than the instructions.

P.S. Happy Mother's Day to all of you Mothers out there. Have a wonderful day ladies.


Pin It Now!

Bag-of-the-Month for May~ The Poolside Tote

The Poolside Tote is the bag for the month of May and it's a great looking super roomy tote! Designed by Anna Graham of Noodlehead. You don't need a pool or even the beach to enjoy this fabulous bag. I'll use this tote for my new library bag and for schlepping stuff to the groups I belong to. Lol!!

As usual I made a few changes. I did add fusible fleece to my bag and interfacing to the lining fabric, since I still felt they needed more substance to the bag, even though I used home decor weight fabrics. I wanted a closure to the bag, so I made a tab with a magnetic snap closure. If I make the bag again I might just add the magnetic snap to the lining without adding a tab. I also added an inside pocket and I chose to add both the slip in pocket as well as the zipper pocket. I added the zipper pocket on the the back of the bag. I sewed the swivel hook for holding keys to the inside of the bag instead of the outside of the bag.
If you want to see all the bags that were made from others go to the Flickr Group here. Check Flickr often because new bag photos are added often.

Front of the tote with the slip pocket. I added the tab with the magnetic snap closure.

The back of the tote with the zippered pocket.

The pocket I made for the interior of the bag. I sewed 2 pen pocket dividers on the right.

Swivel hook I added to the inside of the bag to hold my keys.

Side view of the tote.

Click here to find out more info about the Bag-of-the-Month Club

  Pin It Now!