Hey all! It’s Melissa from a happy stitch back again and I’m so excited about my Field Study Fold-Over Tote! It’s no secret that a good bag is the perfect fall accessory (that and boots, am I right?). I fell in love with the Field Study Tote a long time ago. I love how versatile it is and yet stylish. I knew I wanted to make the kind of classic, elegant bag that goes with everything and this bag had all the details necessary to make that happen. I added in a bit of leather for the straps and in my opinion, the leather combined with the metal hardware elevates the bag to SUPER awesome status. I am thrilled with my new bag.
For the main body fabric I used a black and white railroad stripe fabric from Robert Kaufman and the bottom of the bag is a heavyweight grey from Ikea. The inside lining is a gorgeous tomato-colored organic solid fabric from Cloud 9 Fabrics. To tie it all together, I used red thread for all topstitching. The leather is sourced from a random scrap leather bag I got at my local big-box craft store. Most of the hardware came from my favorite fabric boutique and wasn’t hard to find. Oh, how I love this bag!
Doesn’t the red lining look positively scrumptious? I love when the inside of a bag has a bit of secret.
This bag has so much going on. A big front pocket with a magnet snap closure, an inside pocket with velcro closure and two different options for carrying the bag (you can clip it at partway down the bag or at the top of the bag depending on how much stuff you are carrying). It also has an optional inside zipper pocket, which I decided to skip. I find that I don’t often use inside zipper pockets and if I do I too easily forget what I put in them. Now sometimes, a bag with lots of features ends up being sewing code for “bag that takes a long time to make” but for whatever reason the Field Study tote wasn’t time-consuming.
The written instructions are very straightforward and so is the construction. It all makes sense and that makes it come together smoothly. If anything was time-consuming it was the cutting and keeping track of the cut pieces and that is just par for the course when it comes to bag-making. Once the cutting was complete, it all came together very efficiently. Plus, Betz has super clear and helpful notes, of course.
I’m going to be bringing this bag everywhere I go. It’s understated, simple but sophisticated looking and exactly what I was going for. I’m considering making a few more to give as gifts this holiday season. It’s the kind of bag my sister and my mom would LOVE!
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This post is part of the Betz White Sewing Collective series. Content is written by compensated contributors expressing their own views and opinions.