A pair of Bestie bags

made from deadstock waxed cotton

Back in June last year, I left my last job when we moved up north. I wanted to make a present for two of my colleagues, who had become friends over the 5 years I was in that role. The Bestie bag, by BF Patterns, is a perfect pattern for gift giving. There’s no sizing or fitting to worry about, plus it’s a universally useful size and shape of bag. I’ve made it for me, my Mum and my bestie over the years, from deadstock waxed cotton, leather from old dining chairs, and a no-longer-waterproof coat.

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I had some grey waxed cotton in my stash, acquired from a friend reorganising her fabric collection. I figured grey is a nice, neutral colour, a good choice for gift-giving. I omitted the leather zipper pull I’ve added to the other bags I’ve made, one of my friends is vegan, and the zips I sourced from Etsy already had long zipper pulls.

There’s not much more to say about this pattern, having written about it three times already! I hesitated to put it on the blog at all, but I’ve mentioned finishing these bags in several podcast episodes so it felt right to round off this project by giving them their own newsletter.

It’s nice to have these finally off the sewing to do list, having lingered there since last summer. They were the last project I cut out and started sewing before my machines were packed away for moving house. They didn’t see the light of day again until February, when my bestie came to visit and we spent a day together sewing. Even then, I finished my pile of mending and alterations, but ran out of time to complete the Bestie bags. It took almost another month before I finally prioritised this project!

Here’s a spoiler of my next sewing plan - finally completing my Hobbit Robe. I finally cut into my quilt topper this afternoon…