Vogue 7703 Cat Bag

I found this delightful fabric at the ASG Conference in one of the vendor's booths. I just had to have it and the only thing I could think of that I might possibly really sew and use was a bag. So I bought just a yard plus the dotted fabric to use as lining. Once home I studied my many never used bag patterns and decided on this one. I cut view D intending to put the grommets in a the top. The cord goes through the grommets and creates the shape with pleats at the top. I found some large grommets at JoAnn's but they were too big for my grommet setter. I was fearful of the hammer technique to apply the grommets figuring I would make a mess of it. So I changed my plan and made a tab to close using velcro to secure. I added the little bow. It just seemed to need it.

The pattern was easy to sew except for the oval at the bottom with the cording. The tight curves there were a bit tricky and my result is okay but not perfect. I used fusible fleece on the cat fabric and iron-on interfacing on the lining as my fabrics were soft. The pattern calls for synthetic leather or suede, woolens and corduroy with fusible hair canvas to support. My fusible fleece worked great although it is more soft looking than sleek.

I really like having an open outer pocket on my bags to drop sunglasses or maps in.

There is also one inner pocket for cell phone or whatever. Hard to see in this photo but the picture is of the lining with the pocket.