The Long Awaited Farbenmix Tasche Isabella Bag

Some time last year, I bought the pdf pattern for Farbenmix´s Tasche Isabella bag.  I just fell in love with the messenger bag version after seeing a few made up.  Look at all the beautiful versions that Natalie made:

Check out more of Natalie´s beautiful creations by visiting her blog (it´s in German).

You might remember that I posted a pic of another of these bags that Natalie made.  This one is my favorite. 

Isn´t it just so........

So, last year when I bought this pattern, I didn´t have any of my stash, only the African wax fabrics.  And I just didn´t think those were quite right for this.  So, I waited.  And I am so glad I did.  Here is what I made:

The two middle pics here are interior pockets.

I am really happy with how it turned out.  The big red flower on the front is a  pocket, which is closed by the fabric "clasp".  And I have had that flower button for many, many years!  It might have been my grandma´s.  There is also a cell phone pocket on the strap which is the perfect size for my cell phone (I will have to forever use this size cell phone now). 

As for the pattern, there are English instructions and it was surprisingly easy to follow, except for them missing out one instruction entirely.  You see those little gathers on either side of the round, flower pocket?  Well the pattern never tells you how or when to do those!  That is actually just one piece of fabric, not two sewn together like it looks.  You have to cut into the pattern piece several inches from the sides in toward the center, gather up the bottom bit and re-attach it to the upper bit.  I don´t know if I ever would have figured this out without the help of the ladies over at craftymamas.com.  They were a HUGE help!

Also, this pattern does not include seam allowances.  Ask me if I remembered to add them.  I did not.  Luckily this pattern doesn´t need to actually fit anybody, so I decided to go ahead and sew it.  To be honest, that was a happy accident because now the bag is not way too big for an everyday purse!  All in all, I am delighted with this new bag.  And this pattern was so much easier than I expected and way more fun too.  It took me a few days to make this, so it wasn´t good strategy for the Pattern Stash Contest, but it was definitely in keeping with the spirit of that contest since this was a pattern I have been wanting to make for a long time.

Pretend I put in a cool, German idiom here, something like "Long live the handbag!"  Sadly, my one semester of German in college did not leave me with any long-lasting vocabulary.  I do remember how to say Wie geht es Ihnen?, rouladen, bier, and liebfraumilch......