Carkai Gatherer bag

It's been a while since I made a new bag, and Anna Graham's (of Noodlehead) Gatherer Crossbody Bag called to me from the minute she posted the free pattern. I'm still generally in the stage of using larger purses/totes most of the time (because I'm always carrying extra stuff for my little guy), but it's nice to have a smaller purse option, too.

Anna made the pattern to go with Carolyn Friedlander's Carkai collection, and it's a natural fit to be sure. I used The Big One in Iron from Carkai for the outside of the bag and paired it with Crisscross in Blue from Carolyn's Doe collection on the inside. I can't enough of that print. So useful.

I made this particular bag as a sampler for a class I'll be teaching locally at Janie Lou in March (there are still spots available if you're local), so I paired it down to the most basic version of the bag: no hardware and no piping. This pattern is great because it offers a lot of modifications to make it as simple or advanced as you want. To make the flap closeable without hardware, I added a small tab on the outside of the pocket. I also finished the ends of the straps (which the pattern doesn't do).

I'm excited to teach my class in the coming weeks and can't wait to make more of these little bags in the future. It's a fun little pattern that I can see making again and again.