I bought this pattern by Noodlehead in early December as a treat for myself, after having wanted it for probably a few years now. International postage isn’t kind these days, but I figured that if I was still keen after all this time it wasn’t a passing fad. Also, I had a bag made from the same pattern, and while I liked it the colour (red) didn’t match the majority of my clothing).

Whereas this cat themed canvas with a black background definitely would.

Christmas and New Year distracted me for a while, but last weekend I finally got around to making it. It took me about a day to sew: an hour or two cutting the pieces out on Saturday, then from morning tea to late afternoon sewing it up.

I could have bought the pdf, but I needed to get the webbing, zippers and hardware anyway so I bought the paper version. There’s a series of ‘sew-along’ tutorial videos that are packed with extra tips and tricks, that made following the instructions easier.

There were two other fabrics in my stash that I was considering using. I have webbing, zippers and hardware for two more bags, but I don’t really need four sling bags. However, I would like a hip bag. The classic crescent bum bag has always bugged me because it’s not a great shape for stowing the sort of things I want to carry in it, so I’m thinking I might adapt the Sandhill Sling by cropping away the bottom half to make a smaller bag, or turning the bag 90º, and attaching the strap to the top corner of each side instead.

I’ve also located some lining I saved from a couple of handbags that fell apart, which already comes with zippers and pockets attached. Stash busting and recycling combined.