Cute Round Bag Pattern Ideas

Today I’m excited to share with you a free addition that I’ve made to my Alice Bag Sewing pattern. When I designed the Alice bag, my ideas was to make a basic round bag pattern then find ways to customize and personalize that basic round shape.  Since we are big Disney fans around here, it didn’t take me long to figure out what “character” to turn the round bag pattern into next… his initials are the same as mine, MM.

Before we talk too much about the pattern addition. I thought I’d share with you two fun Alice bag projects that were shared with me recently.

The first one is from Veronica of Sew Very.

Veronica stitched up the smaller size of the Alice Bag in Betz White’s new fabric line, Juxtaposey. I love how she fussy cut the front of the bag to show off one of the main motifs from the line.

She make a few changes to the pattern that she talks about on her blog. She moved the cross body straps to the zipper panel, and hand stitched the lining onto the zipper instead of finishing the raw edges with bias tape.

I actually made a bag where I put the straps on the zipper as she did when I was designing the pattern. The only thing I noticed when I did that is that the bag does not sit up right when it’s not hanging across your body, it kinda wobbles on the straps. Which is really not a big deal at all since you’re wearing it as a cross body. It does look really nice with the straps on the side like that, so I think it just comes down to personal preference. If you’re interested in making the bag, hop on over and read her post, I think you’ll find her sewing tips very helpful!

The next bag I wanted to show you was made by Louise of Sew Sofia

Louise stitched up the bag in some of the fabrics from the first Wonderland fabric line. She made a few minor changes too, she made the cross body strap on the back removable. Which I think is a great idea, that way if you ever wanted to use the bag as a cosmetic bag instead of a cross body bag you could easily just make a new strap.

I’m also totally in love with the rose gold hardware she chose for her bag. Now I need to figure out where to pick some up stateside.

Louise lives in the UK and has an amazing etsy shop where she sells handmade bags –  Click here to check it out!

Okay, now onto that Mickey Mouse inspired bag.

For Spring break this year we headed to Disney World, we have annual passes, so it just makes sense to go for the school breaks since part of the trip is already paid for.

Kate Spade did an ADORABLE line for Disney featuring Minnie Mouse bags, I was inspired by one of the small coin purses in the collection to create a Mickey version of my bag.  You can see and buy the Kate Spade version of the bag HERE.

I made the bag (finished it the day we left *whew*)  and took it with me to Disney to photograph it thinking that I’d wear it a day then switch to another bag. I ended up carrying it the whole week. It was lightweight and just the right size for what I needed for my days in the Parks. It fit my phone (I have a 7+) hand sanitizer, gum, chapstick and a small wallet without any problems. My oldest daughter was with us for a few days at Disney so I convinced her to pose for a few photos for me, since it’s hard to take a selfie of yourself while you’re wearing a bag! (p.s. these photos were taken with my iPhone 7+ it’s new portrait mode is AMAZING!)

The construction of the bag is exactly the same, with the exception of the round ears. I stitched my bag out of a black and cream Kokka polkadot linen. It is a bit heavier weight than a normal quilting cotton but I would not consider it a heavyweight fabric.

This is the first update of many that I have planned for this bag so I’ve created a PATTERN UPDATE page on my blog where people who have purchased the patterns (in paper copy in a store or in PDF version online) can download for free the updates as the come out.

If you’ve already bought the Alice Bag CLICK here to go to the pattern update page. From there enter the password (polkadots) it’s also on the last page of instructions of your Alice Bag pattern enter it where prompted and download the PDF update.

If you have not already bought the Alice Bag pattern and want to make the Mickey Inspired version, I’ve updated the PDF in the shop so that it includes the additional instructions.

Watch for even more updates to the Alice Bag coming this summer- have a request? I’m up for suggestions!!

Also, if you like this bag, you can make a small coin purse to match. There’s a free pattern for it on my blog!  Just click here to take you to the pattern!

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