In my fabric stash, I had a remnant of a lightweight brocade upholstery fabric in beautiful fall colors that I bought a year ago with the idea of making a bag. (Yes, I am a fabric hoarder.) Looking at my Pinterest board for purses and bags, I noticed that I had pinned more than one bag made from the Phoebe Bag pattern and I decided it would be an excellent choice for using my fabric.
The Phoebe Bag is a free pattern from Artsy-Crafty Babe that you can find here. I am always amazed at how generous bloggers are with their free patterns and tutorials. This is a downloadable pdf with a full-sized pattern and clear instructions. I can see why it is so popular and why there are so many finished Phoebe bags on Pinterest. Thanks Artsy-Crafty Babe.
I made a few minor changes to customize the bag for me. I adjusted the width of the bag to make it just a bit wider so that I could easily carry a notebook in it and I made the strap a bit longer so that it would be a shoulder bag for me. I skipped the optional interfacing since I was using a fabric with some thickness to it and I wanted the bag to be a bit slouchy. Also, I used Velcro, which I had on hand, instead of buying a magnetic snap.
The lining is a green-on- green, cotton print that was actually a skirt that I made years ago and couldn't bear to part with when I couldn't wear it any longer because I liked the fabric so well. (Told you I was a fabric hoarder.)
It took me a couple hours, at most, from start to finish to cut out and sew this bag together. For a finishing touch I added a filigree broach that I found at a rummage sale for 50 cents to the flap.
