The Charlie Bag

I finally made the Charlie bag this weekend!


The instructions were not very explicit so I had to ask a dear friend for her expert advice. She pointed me to links that had tutorial for a lined Charlie tote, a Charlie bag with a French seam and bias binding and a super interesting video by Nora (Creator of Burda Style) that totally explains how to sew the bag plus it also shows some cool ways to embellish it to make it your own unique Shopping bag(scroll down on the page to see all possible variations)!.

The fabric I had in mind to make this bag was a flimsy synthetic lightweight with pretty Indian prints. So I decided to make the lined Charlie tote instead of its various cousins.

The Pattern directions tell you to sew the pocket the bag would be folded into in the side. I tweaked that a little. I mostly stuck to the pattern not modifying it one bit because I had to cut up 6 pieces (3 Charlie Bags).

As you can see, I sewed the pocket at the top of the bag to act as a pocket. I added a flap that I sewed behind the pocket so it would close on the pocket when teh bag was folded into it, added Velcro with the hook side tape on the pocket and the loop tape on the flap so the lining wouldn't get snagged in it.

I am not one bit happy with the bag.. I wish I'd interfaced it. I might do that for the other two bags whose pieces I've cut out. Will hopefully post their pictures soon!