My Underwater Castle Bag

I wanted to share a project I completed a few months ago. I made it using the Underwater Stripes pattern by Sew Sweetness. This bag was my first proper bag with a zipper and has inspired me to make more since!

I was using scraps from another project and had enough diagonal pieced strips left to make the handles from those rather than HST's, it worked well and was much quicker! I rearranged the HST panels into my own design, giving a sort of 'Castle' shape. In order for my design to work I needed an even number in the panels so I sewed my HST's together with a scanty seam allowance and made my bag slightly narrower so I could get away with 6 HST's wide instead of 7. An unintended consequence of my scanty seams was that my pattern pieces also ended up fitting on 4 HST's high instead of 5.

Here's the other side, they don't match as I was using up the scraps I had on hand!

I am most proud of my zipper, I hadn't really used any before so this was an adventure. The instructions in the pattern were clear and helpful, it didn't turn out perfectly but I love it!

I used a leftover piece of grey linen for the lining with a pop of colour in the pocket lining.

I would certainly recommend this pattern as a great first bag pattern, especially if you're already a quilter. I'm certain it would look great with plain fabric instead of a the HST's as well, it has a lovely shape to it. The best thing about the pattern? It's free!