Gingham + Leather Sidekick Tote

I recently had the pleasure of being involved in a sewing blogger gift swap, and now that my recipient has received her gift, I can show you all this Sidekick Tote I made for her!

Anna from Noodlehead had sent me her Sidekick Tote pattern years ago when it was released, and it is one of those things that has always been on my list but I had never got around to making! I knew I wanted to make Delia a messenger type bag, and this pattern was perfect for what I had in mind.

I found this large gingham heavy weight fabric on fabric.com, made by Premier Prints.

For the pocket, I wanted to use some metallic gold leather that I also used on this top for Lola, and took advantage of the stitching details from the coat the leather came from. I used a really short zig zag stitch and repeated over the  stitching a couple of times to make a thick bold stitch line.

I really love the recessed zipper Anna designed for this pattern, and thought the teal would be a fun pop of color against the mustard lining (quilting cotton from Jo-Ann).

Anna’s pattern was fantastic as usual, and this was such a fun sew! Not too many pieces, and it went together fairly quickly. Get the pattern here!