This is the first bag I designed myself. Michelle was complaining about her handbag while we were in Hawaii, saying she needed just a little bit more space to fit everything. I made some notes on what she liked from her current bag and what she wanted in the new one, and then drew up the plans.

Features: This bag has an exterior zippered pocket on one side and a slip pocket on the other. The top has a zippered closure. The cross-body adjustable strap is connected to the back of the bag with bag connectors and silver hardware. The bottom is boxed.

I used nylon webbing for the strap and connectors, and after moderate usage, one of the connectors frayed and disconnected from the bag body. Michelle sent it back to me so I could fix it. I replaced the webbing connectors with interfaced fabric tabs instead. I left the strap alone, but if it fails in the future, I will either replace it with cotton webbing or a self-fabric strap.