Week 22 or The Mondriaan-Ikea bag

Years ago, I got some upholstery fabric at Ikea. I made a dress for my older daughter and kept the rest. It reminds of the mid/late-career work of Piet Mondriaan, which I love. I just learned there's a whole museum named after him in Amersfoort, the city of his birth, where I happen to have a very visitable cousin! If you're looking for a collection of his works that spans his entire career, check out the Haagsgemeentemuseum, one of several well-curated collections in The Hague. I'm pretty sure they don't let the war criminals wander the museums unsupervised.

I think this is the first time I've actually planned ahead and gotten started on a project well before Friday morning. Woohoo! Also the first time I've really matched up the stripes. It's amazing what you can do when you've got a box of pins and aren't afraid to use them. I even went all-out and lined the thing, too,  in red, to match the handles.

I wanted to make the bag similar in size to a large grocery bag, just shorter. But the  material had a little curve in it that would have meant making it significantly narrower or shorter. So I stuck a pocket over the hole. Which then inspired me to put a pocket on the inside. In a contrasting color.

So after getting started early, I still finished it up on Saturday morning, with one kid curled up in bed and the other asking me which filly collectible is my favorite from each family. I did come out of it with a very sturdy reversible bag with little pockets on the sides and a nice stiff layer to keep the bottom from collapsing completely.

In construction it's exactly the same as the other reversible bag, but the handles are shorter and the materials are both stiffer. And I had to piece together the red side because I'd cut bits and pieces out to make poodle skirts and armhole facings already. You can just barely see a bit of seam at the lower left corner. The other side is rather more obvious with its seams.

I can't wait to take it to the Farmers Market in 2 weeks. Just not to the garden. Which is a mud pit right now. My poor strawberries. But I'm sure the slugs and snails are loving it!

Update: Someone else posted a tutorial on how to make a lined bag with a pocket! Here it is.