Happy February! I’m thrilled to announce the next pattern in the 2018 Bag of the Month Club, the Ravenwood Messenger Bag!
The Ravenwood Messenger Bag is a rough and ready companion, equipped to carry your tech gear and more. I’ve made mine out of a durable waxed canvas with contrast zippers. (Between my husband and 2 teenage sons, I can see I’m going to have to make a few more to satisfy their demands! They actually WANT something I made, hooray!)
The back exterior has a double-zip tech pocket that holds cables, cords and earbuds, keeping them organized with elastic straps. There’s also a zippered mesh pocket for smaller items.
Inside there’s a padded slip pocket for a tablet or small laptop. A 15” laptop fits easily into the main compartment. There’s also 3 divided pockets for glasses, pens, chargers etc.If you’re interested in sewing with waxed canvas but never have, you can read a little more about it in this post. If you don’t want to use waxed canvas, no worries! Several of my testers used regular canvas or home dec weight fabrics. The nice thing about using a heavier, stable fabric is that you can skip the interfacing. I’ve written the pattern to stabilize the lining with fusible fleece, giving it some padding.
This snazzy black canvas version is by Terry D. I love the accent zipper and the print placement on the pocket flaps. Practical but still has character.
Tara of Uh Oh Creations was inspired by a certain super hero! She’s got great color blocking, a Superman print interior and a surprise inside the back tech pocket. Super fun!
Katie’s bag is the “Clark Kent” to Tara’s Superman! Mild mannered but never boring in grey pinstripe with faux leather accents on the lower panels, side gussets and handles. Classy!
Cindy of Raspberry Sunshine made her Ravenwood with some gorgeous red waxed canvas and lined it with natural linen. She also opted to make her strap using webbing. Great idea!
Stacy of Stacysews used denim and contrast zippers and topstitching and I love the result! She did a fantastic job.
Most of my testers rated this bag as advanced-beginner to intermediate. This bag pattern is exclusive to the club until August 1st 2018. So if you love it, join the club and get six great bag patterns, one revealed every month! If you’re already a member (or even if you’re not!) be sure to join the BOMC Facebook group for support and to see all of the bags other members are making.
I sewed this on my domestic machine, a Bernina. The toughest part are the pleats on the cargo pockets and the rest was fine!
WOW, it’s fabulous! it’s rugged-looking, masculine, and full of functionality. I am super impressed! All of the different versions look nice, but I particularly like Terry D’s black bag with the print pockets, beautiful!
Thank you so much!