Pattern Review: Inflight Hobo Bag by Joel Dewberry

I'm so happy to have finished something for ME!  I spend so much of my sewing time doing things for other people, is was nice to spend some time doing something for myself.  I used a lovely Lotta Jansdotter print with a Shot Cotton for the accent color.  The gray is quite purplish and so pretty!  The red has purple undertones because it is woven with red and bluish/purplish yarns.  I love the dimension of the shot cotton.  Yum.

Overall I really liked this pattern, but it had a few minor problems which I'll get into later.  It only called for interfacing in the handle, but because I used a regular quilting-weight cotton, I added Pellon Shape Flex interfacing.  It's a 100% cotton woven interfacing, and was fabulous to work with.  I used it in all of the exterior pieces.

I really like how the handles are connected using some hardware.  The thing I like best about this is that, at least in my purses, the handles always wear out first.  This way, if I choose, I can easily put a new handle on without opening any seams.  Once the whole thing wears out I can salvage the hardware and use it again in another purse. 

The pattern called for piping on the inner edges of the contrast stripes, and I chose to leave it off.  I've done plenty of piping and it doesn't scare me, I just didn't want it on this bag.  I pressed my seams toward the red strips and topstitched 1/4" away in gray thread. 

 The pattern also called for one inner zippered pocket, centered on one side.  I like more pockets, so I moved the zipper over and added a cell phone pocket on this side,

...and another zippered pocket and a pencil/pen pocket on this side.  The white zippers are really bright, but they were free, so I'm okay with that.  They'll be easy to find in the dark. 

So this pattern had three problems that I noticed.  First of all, the markings for the magnetic clasp were on the OUTSIDE pattern piece.  That just isn't where a magnetic clasp should go.  The second was that the lining was bigger around the top than the outer portion of the bag.  It is very possible that the curved/bias edges of my lining had stretched, but I had more than two inches of extra fabric to ease in, so I don't think it was all stretching.  I rememdied this with a little gathering stitch around the top.  The third issue was in the pleats on the bottom of the bag.  There were three marks on the pattern pieces, and there was an illustration in the pattern, but it was very unclear how much to pleat the edges.  I think it needed more instruction on this part.  I chose to use the outer two marks and turn mine into a box pleat.  It worked fine and gives nice shape to the bag. 

 Even with the shortcomings of the pattern, I think it is still worth it.  I wouldn't recommend this pattern to someone with little or no experience because those problems could really get in the way.  However, someone with some experience who feels confident tackling imprefection would likely be very happy with it. This pattern can be purchased here.
Personally, I am really looking forward to using and loving my new purse.

I'll be entering this in Purse Palooza 2012 within a few days, and I'm linking up to {Sew} Modern Monday today.