the perfect travel bag

I’m back from lovely California…a little tanner and definitely refreshed. can I confess something? after a morning of hot coffee and sunshine at the beach I sat under a duvet and watched a movie surrounded by some of my oldest friends…it was 1pm.  it was insane. and glorious. I came home with stories of surfboards and cacti to enthrall the boys.

but before I left I was inspired mostly by the amazing bags being made in my current bag class.  I decided that I need the perfect traveling tote bag so I made this sucker:

it has a small inside pocket and then outside pockets on all four sides. it even has a key strap. (you know how you always want to know where your keys are but you never actually need them when you are on vacation? well, the key strap keeps them in one, easily-accessible place at all time.)  I used navy canvas from purl soho and amy butler’s lotus fabric from hawthorne threads for the lining. the pockets are topped with twill tape and all the fabric was sturdified (a word?) with heavyweight interfacing.

in all honestly, i’m in love with this bag. I was ridiculously organized on the plane. when I felt like listening to music, I knew just how to find my iPod.  when I wanted to read my book, all I had to do was reach down for the outside pocket and there it was.  plus, it’s awfully big so everything under the sun fits into it!