Presenting the Batala Backpack!

I'm so excited this bag is finally ready for presentation! I had this vision for a long time of a full circle backpack, however, I didn't want a shapeless sack, I wanted a practical handbag backpack substitute, with proper pockets for cellphone, keys etc... So after much experimentation the Batala Backpack was born!

It has a sturdy center, so it holds it shape nicely despite the half circle sides which gives the beautiful folds on the sides. It's such a handy size to replace your everyday handbag,  ~12" high and ~7" wide at the top. And it's super comfortable to wear with it's padded, adjustable straps, and you can easily hang it in the big D-ring.

You close it with a drawstring and a magnetic snap lock for the lid. So access is very easy. It's sewn in beautiful Tula Pink Eden fabrics combined with a light purple faux leather and a green blender fabric from my stash.

On the backside you have a safe zippered pocket, as I'm always a bit worried about carrying my things on my back otherwise, then it feels good to know the keys and any other important little things are safely tucked away towards my back where no one can get to it.

The inside has one zipper pocket and one open pocket, however, I will share more photos of the inside in a later post. The pattern will go out for testing soon, and so it will be available to the public in a month or so hopefully.

Tiger Conservation

The Backpack is named after the city of Batala in the Punjab region of India, this is part of the Tigers historical areas of habitats, however sadly there are no longer any wild tigers in this region. The conservation of our big cats is a topic that's very dear to my heart and one that was constantly on my mind as this bag took shape thanks to the lovely Tula Pink Crouching Tiger fabric. Even if this design isn't for you, maybe you'll take a moment of your time to take a look at https://www.panthera.org and see if there's anything you can do to help the tigers. It's very easy to donate directly through their website <3

Photo by Steve Winter, National Geographic.

The Mackie Sleeve Pattern is here!

I made a pretty pink laptop case for myself a while back and I've had some inquiries about a pattern - so I naturally had to make one =) It's both quick and fun to make and it contains instructions to adjust it to fit most laptops - no matter the size! And you can play around with this design endlessly!

Pattern is available here in English and here in Swedish.

It has no zipper closure (to not risk scratching your laptop) but is just a slide in sleeve, and you close it with the device of your choice to not risk it slipping out. Instructions for a button and elastic closure is included.

Love the extra touch of class the little corner covers give <3

Here you see the difference in look you get depending on how much you close your zipper in Step 2. 

I'd like to thank my wonderful pattern testers, whom made som lovely versions of their own!

By Jennifer MacWilliams - You can find her on Instagram: @thisgirlissewdestructive and on Facebook. The big patterned fabric really makes the zipper design pop! Lovely, tiny 10" version!

By Eva Halvarsson - my mother of Borlänge Sycentrum made a very classy striped version!

By Anne Verberckmoes, a tiny version as well with pretty text fabric version with a big "peek a boo" opening.

Stockholm Bag - Pattern Release!

Happy to say that the Stockholm Bag pattern now has been tested by my fantastic pattern testers and is now available on Craftsy!

Pattern available here in English, and here in Swedish.

This bag came to be as I needed a bag to use as carry on when flying to Stockholm, and as it's for use in Stockholm, it had to be big enough to fit both my laptop, an extra sweater and everything else I need while travelling or for a full day on the town. This bag is perfect for both!

The stylish, nordic inspired no fuss design with a simple big exterior pocket and a zippered pocket at the back is perfect for the advanced beginner all the way up to the advanced bagmaker who potentially could spice it up in numerous ways!

It has a zippered pocket in the lining and some open lining pockets for cellphones and other little things.

I want to give a big shout out to my wonderful pattern testers! They did amazing work, corrected issues, helped me with spelling and grammar, and made fantastic versions of the bag. Please enjoy these beauties!

Margareth Tai - Bags by Mags you can find here on Instagram. Made this gorgeous denim version that I just love! Such lovely fabric combinations and choices!

Eva Halvarsson - my mother of Borlänge Sycentrum Made a lovely linnen version! Love the quilting and the happy Tula Pink fabric combined with the sombre linnen. Classy but fun!

Anna Van Berlo - Whom you can find here on Instagram, made this adorable burgundy suede version, the little flower is such a great addition! Love it!

Cate Sjöman - of C. SjömanDesigns Made a pretty black version to which she added white contrasting piping, such a great idea!

The Stockholm Bag - Pattern Testers Wanted!

I'm so in love with this bag! It turned out exactly how I had envisioned it. Which actually is highly unusual, normally most of my original ideas develop a lot during the creation process, and turn into something differing more or less from the original plan as I move along. However, Stockholm was such a good baggy and stayed it's course to the end <3

The beautiful focus fabric is from the Moonshine line by Tula Pink, the print is called "Lantern". The fake leather is "pre quilted" and comes from Ohlssons Tyger & Stuvar in Sweden, but Fabric.com has similar ones if you're curious =)

Backside, simple with just a small zippered pocket. Please pardon the stains on the left, I'd just put on lotion when I took these photos but didn't realise it left a residue until I saw them big now *lol*

I don't have any great inside pictures yet but it's simple, with a zippered pocket in the lining and a couple of open pockets on the other side. More photos will come! =) The turquoise lining fabric is a Bella Solid, however, I can't recall the exact name, I'm sorry.

Size comparison with the Daytona Bag =)

Pattern Testers Wanted! Edit: - Pattern tested and finished, available here.

Now I'm looking for a couple of more pattern testers to add to my awesome group of lovely testers, it's fun and easy to make, a fancy beginners pattern really =)

If you're interested in test sewing this pattern for me, make sure it contains no inaccuracies, check my spelling and grammar (as English isn't my first language ;) )  and let me know if anything is unclear or hard to understand? I would like a few testers for both the English version and the Swedish version.

If you would like to test the pattern, I would like to ask you that you have time to make, comment on the pattern and photograph the bag before February 16th. I'm very sorry about the short timeframe, however, I need it tested before it goes to the printer on the 17th =)

The english pattern is ready for testing on Sunday, the Swedish one should hopefully be done Monday, Tuesday at the latest. As soon as it's finished, I'll email it to you so if you're interested in testing the pattern, you should have sewing and preferably some bag making experience. Please email me at maria@pinkponydesign.com with a short description of your sewing experience or link to your blog or photo sharing site if you have one (or just attach a photo of some things you've sewn in the email). You if you're approved, you'll be added to my pattern tester group on Facebook where we can discuss the testing progress and share photos with other testers =)

All pattern testers will of course get the finished pattern for free, as well as my eternal gratitude and two of my other patterns of their choice as a thank you. <3

And I'm so ridiculously excited, the one and only, Tula Pink herself shared my bag on Instagram! <3 If I have any non-quilters reading, that's like having the queen praise your work =)

Without a doubt the coolest thing ever in my sewing career! =D Look at all those likes and her super sweet comments! How insanely cool isn't that!?! 

This is also my first finish for the 2016 Finish Along! Here's my first post about it: A new bag in the works.

The much requested: Fancy Folded Star Pillow Pattern!

If there's one question I've been sent more emails about than anything else, it's if I could possibly make a pillow version of the Fancy Folded Star Potholder tutorial. And I've been meaning to do so for ages, but you know how it goes, other things get in the way and boom! Suddenly 4 years have passed! ;D

But better late then never right? So here it is! It's available on Craftsy here!

This pillow is so much fun to make! And it's the perfect gift for the person who has "everything" =)

Linking up with awesome Lorna over at SewFreshQuilts for Let's Bee Social! =)

A Pink Pony Zipper Card Pouch!

I made myself a card holder from some of the lovely Tula Pink scraps I got from the super sweet @sewtiffany on Instagram, in the #getyourquiltywishesgranted event <3

I chose to combine my Nightshade scraps around the Pink Pony Design fabric I ordered of Spoonflower a while back, and it matched beautifully! So did the Michael Miller Cotton Couture solid. The pattern is from Craft Passion. I'm not 100% happy with this, the corner was darn near impossible to get nice (I only managed "acceptable"), the instructions where at times a little unclear and hard to follow, and I had to really zoom in on the photos to try to understand what I was supposed to do. As I actually tried to follow the pattern this once *lol*

The bulky visible seams takes up a lot of space. Also, the little fold that allows the bag to open up, tends to catch in the zipper when opening it. However, they have posted a new version of the pattern which shouldn't have these issues, but it involved a lot of hand sewing - so it wasn't for me ;)

Front:

The back, lovely big Nightshade scrap <3

Presenting: Daytona Bag Pattern!

I'm so very excited to finally be able to release this pattern! It's such a fantastic bag, so professional looking (if I may say so myself ;) ) and so much fun to make! I'm already itching to make a summer version!

Despite its relative small size, it has so much interior space! And the zippered divider pocket is fantastic, as it makes the interior split up and your things so easy to find. And it's perfect for holding passports and boarding passes when you fly, I just tried it :)

The exterior is made with just a single fat quarter, so its a great way to use that favourite fat quarter you've been saving for a chance to really display it.

Pattern available HERE on Craftsy!

And for those wondering, yes, the exterior is made with the same fabric I used as a focus fabric for the Circles of Time Table Runner =)

It matches one of my favourite pairs of boots perfectly! <3

Don't they look great together? ^^ You can read more about the first version (the black one) here.

It's fits so much more then you'd think, the iPad with cover fits nicely, or a pocket book, however I naturally forgot to bring both for this photo session  =)

Thank you!

I want to give a big shout out to my wonderful pattern testers! They did amazing work, corrected issues, helped me with spelling and grammar, made fantastic versions of the bag with and without tweaks and personalisation. Please enjoy these beauties!

By Anne Verberckmoes - She made her divider pocket 2" shorter then in the pattern (like suggested in the pattern step 22) and got this lovely result! That pink plaid is just so stunning!

By Cate Sjöman - You can find her blog here. Who made note one but two bags, one basic and one really cool over the shoulder version too! Love the use of the pre-quilted fabrics here, such a cool look!

By Jennifer MacWilliams - You can find her on Instagram: @thisgirlissewdestructive and on Facebook. She also made her divider pocket 2" shorter for the equally gorgeous tucked in sides look, such happy colors, lovely!  I also love her use of rivets for the handles and the side tucks. =)

By Saar Mertens - Made a lovely all black version with a lovely, contrasting red inside! Love the black zippers contrasting so nicely against the red.

By Noor Raats - She made a gorgeous brown and mustard one, it's so classy on the outside, but so happy and colorful on the inside, I love bags like this! Look at all the lovely little details, like the matching  fabrics and the little lace zipper!

By Jill Dalrymple - She made this lovely Tula Pink version, I love her fabric choices, as a big Tula fan myself it was right up my alley =) I am so involve with the moss green vinyl, I had to pick some up myself when I was in Sweden. she left her sides un-pinched, and that's a great look too!

By Gun Ottosson -  She made her great bag from a thin home dec fabric with books on (such a lovely choice says book lover me) and fake leather, and I love her choice for decor hardware, such a nice addition.

Thank you lovely ladies, your work was so very appreciated!

Linking up with SewFreshQuilts:

And with Crazy Mom Quilts for the very aptly named "Finish it up Friday" linkup =)