Vinyl Project Bag

So this happened over the weekend, and on a Saturday when I usually spend most of the day watching college football! Somehow I worked around the NCAA football schedule to complete this little project bag. There are zillions of tutorials for zippered vinyl bags on the internet, but I like this one from Moda Bake Shop. The pattern was easy to follow and perfect for my first time sewing with vinyl.

I could hardly bear to cut into my long-hoarded Suzuko Koseki fabric, but I love the little circles of retro-ness and thought it was perfect for a bag.

I quilted the back so that the circles were left unsullied.

Here are some things I did differently from the pattern:

1. I used a solid piece of fabric for the back instead of piecing together mini charms, so the final size is off about an inch from the Moda bag at 13 inches x 14 inches
2. I used fusible batting instead of regular batting to give it more body
3. I sewed the zipper on with a regular foot instead of a zipper foot
4. Next time I will be more careful getting creases out of the vinyl. In an effort to smooth the vinyl I put too much heat on it and made it slightly warped. So there were a few crinkles when I sewed with it. However I'm the only one who will notice!

My ambitious self wants to make more little vinyl/fabric bags for Christmas gifts!

Health update: Life is good again. After being sick most of August into September, I'm feeling like my normal self again! My CT scan revealed that I had had pneumonia in my left lung, so that explains the pain with coughing, the weight loss, and the trouble breathing. While waiting for my test results I made the mistake of looking online and found all kinds of things that could be wrong with me, so finding out it had been pneumonia was actually a relief - LOL!