I rarely manage to go to Leeds without stopping off to gawp at material in Samuel Taylors, and my last visit was no exception. Had a reason to buy some material this time, as the handle of my last cotton handmade work bag is shredding and the bag has a hole in it too. Time to make a new one and compost the old one!

There were some different colours of the same lovely linen look cotton that I made the last one out of at £7.50 a metre, so as it was a job that needed doing, I got half a meter of each…

I got the original pattern from a Prima magazine (which in turn came from Lisa Lam’s A Bag for All Reasons) at least five years ago and just make a new one every couple of years. The original was more book bag sized, but I need a bit more space for my work stuff than that, so mine’s a bit bigger. The bag is fully reversible because the handles go inbetween the lining and the outer bag – though of course, you don’t need to reverse it (and I rarely do). Nice to have options though!

Below are some picture that I took as I was making my version – I haven’t given step by step instructions, because I don’t want to infringe on copyright (and I’m sure Lisa would rather you bought her book!)

So now you can wave good bye to carrier bags – happy bag making!

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