My first name is not Dooney

I made a purse.  My little sister graduated recently so I decided to try and use my new found skilz to make her something.  I decided on a hobo bag with a laptop sleeve and I was inspired by this tutorial from JCaroline creative.com.  There are really some amazing tutorials on this site so I decided that because I have no experience what so ever making a purse I might as well just jump into it. I picked up some very cute fabric at Wal Mart (and very cheap which is what I like) and started my project.

First, it's not like I cut the fabric, sat down, and tra la la a purse was made.  I poured over that tutorial forever before I could make a cut because I was so scared to screw it up.  Then I decided that I wanted a little bit different pattern so I made a square bottom vs. the rounded bottom thinking it might be a bit easier.  Cutting the pieces is definitely the easiest part.  LOL.  You can't really screw up a rectangle.  I also made this thing HUGE so it would carry a laptop.  I did okay with attaching the lining, but sewing the sides and bottom to the main pieces was a pain.  And I screwed that up.  Twice.  So the handy dandy seam ripper came in handy.  Finally I realized that my seam allowances were waaaay too small at the very bottom of the bag so I had to improvise and sewed a piece to the very bottom from the outside vs. sewing it and attaching it to the inside.

Anyhoo.  I finally finished the shell and started on the interior which was a bit easier because I had learned from my mistakes.  But I did sew the interior pocket (with my first zipper!) on crooked.  By that time I could really give a flying farkus so I went with it and decided that the mistakes would just give it character.  My sister just received it and said she loves it so I guess it's a win!  Yay!

And here it is: 

The bottom picture is actually the laptop sleeve that I just cut two rectangles out of each fabric and sewed together.  It's very basic with no bells and whistles but I did add extra lining in between the two fabrics to create padding.  I didn't use a tutorial for this so I just used my laptop sleeve and tried to recreate it.  Oh and again my seam allowances were too small so I had to sew from the outside in some places.

This was actually a great learning experience for me and my next project was a garden tote for my older sister's birthday so she could keep her tools in a cute bag.  It turned out better than above and I'll post about it later.  I'm thinking I"m gonna do the hobo again for myself.  Hehehehe.