The Saddle Bag: a first draft

The Alpine Adventure Saddle Bag

After much ado, here is the first draft of my saddle bag.

My husband thinks it belongs in the Swiss Alps, so I have aptly named it the Alpine Adventure Saddle Bag,

 If you recall my inspiration, it involved traditional shaping, a flap, and leather.   But I also incorporated wool with a herringbone pattern in the main body, 3 different colors of leather (one for the side of the bag, one for the strap, front and back details, and a third for the trim on the flap.

The back has belt loops for completely shoulder-free carrying

The leather strap was secured with hand-stitching to the leather side

 

The inside pocket holds my wallet

It's a pretty small saddle bag, just large enough to hold my phone, wallet and keys.  I also drafted a larger version, but that one isn't finished yet.  The inside is a floral quilting cotton, and the flap closes with a magnetic snap.

I'm really happy with how it turned out, though I am not yet satisfied with the order of construction.  Too much hand-sewing was necessary on this bag, and the lining was not as tight as I would like on the inside.  I am trying a different construction method on the larger bag, as well as different interfacing.

But I will leave you with a few more pictures of the finished bag anyway.  

Here you can see my wristlet keychain, courtesy of Keri from Platypus Pouches!

I love how this particular leather strapping is light yet strong

This bag is also well-sized for a point-and-shoot camera, which does start to make the name "Alpine Adventure" make sense.  Now, I just need to take an appropriate trip!