Sew Compleat Shoulder Tote

At some point in late 2015, a darling colleague – Kylie from Little Moo Designs to be exact – and I came up with this crazy idea of planning and running a Bag Fanatics Retreat here in Australia. There has never been a sewing retreat specifically for bags in Australia before so we pondered (albeit briefly) and decided to take the plunge…. Part of running the retreat would be offering a brand new pattern each to the attendees (which would then be available to the public after the retreat had finished).

I had wanted to have a play with pleating on a bag for a little while, so figured this was the perfect opportunity to get my ideas down on paper – and then in fabric – and after a bit of a play around, I arrived at the Sew Compleat Shoulder Tote (aptly named by our lovely retreat testing team).

The pleating is completely optional, and you can choose from either a wide centre pleat, or a narrow centre pleat, giving you flexibility in featuring just the right scrap of fabric that you’ve been hoarding since forever. Coupled with piping, a single shoulder strap and a magnetic snap closure and she’s quite a gorgeous wee bag (if I do say so myself!). Enjoy!

You can find the Sew Compleat Shoulder Tote here.