Hooray! swimming bag

My Minerva monthly make has a useful but pretty air about it this month. I have made a swimming tote bag from fat quarters. Actually, I made it in the summer holidays, I was so excited about the kit when it arrived.

The fat quarters were a gift, I used two packs but still have some leftover. The tracing pattern cards are a fantastic idea.

The beautiful leather handles really make it look professional. Minerva have lots of good quality handles varying in price, the spotty leather ones are particularly lovely but these went really well with my fabric.

There is a story, there's always a story... I bought a Joules holdall with a gift voucher about five years ago, I used it as my maternity hospital bag and to take on holiday. Then I used it to go swimming with the girls but the inside got damp and it went mouldy, then the zip broke, then the little keyfob dog fell off! It had worked hard this bag, look at the poor thing, but I deconstructed it and took off all the useful parts.

This meant that my new bag could have feet.

The Clover tote template is brilliant and I will be using it again and again. It marks handle placement, feet placement, pocket cutting and a variety of bag shapes by poking your pencil through the holes in the plastic to mark out cutting lines on the fabric.

This is the South Beach Tote which is really roomy but I made it a bit bigger because I need to get two big towels in there with costumes and other stuff. Ironically, I used it on 'South Beach' (in Tenby, not the US) as a beach bag too.

Thanks Minerva.