Knot bag, present for Mom!

Continuing the theme of hand-sewing: I made a knot bag for my mom's birthday present.  They're bags with two handles -- one is longer than the other, and can be threaded through the shorter one to close the bag and form a "knot". 

The completed knot bag.

(Pattern from Indigobirddesign on Etsy).



My mom gave me a lot of quilting fabric a while ago.  She had a huge box full of fabric that she wasn't using, and knew I'd be interested!  And she also mentioned, quite a while ago, that she liked knot bags. 

I asked her what her favorite color was, to which she replied "blue teal is a good default.  What am I getting?".  She was definitely on to me... 

There were a couple fabrics in the box that were blue or teal-ish, that also happened to go together.  I decided to add a couple pockets to the bag out of the scraps from cutting the bag pieces from the fabric.

The "inside" of the bag.

The "outside" of the bag.

I hand sewed the bag, and finished the edges with palestrina stitch.  The palestrina edging took the longest amount of time.  But I wanted something sturdy and reversible, since the bag is also reversible. 

Detail of the palestrina edging.

But overall, it was a very quick project!  Finished it over the weekend, working at a dedicated but leisurely place.  It's all wrapped up and ready for gifting now!