If you’re new to my 52 zippers project, you can read the backstory, see all the zipper pouches, and download basic zipper pouch instructions here.

So I decided to make another doctor-style bag. This one is by the same designer as The Cube bag that I made earlier; it is a much larger version called The Tool Tote. The idea was that it would hold a lot of my misc. stuff for retreats and sew days as it looked pretty big!

For fabric, I used a Kaufman railroad denim stripe, some random denim from my stash, and a bit of a Cotton + Steel mustard yellow print for accent.

This bag took me forever to make. Not because the pattern was especially difficult, but because I kept having fabric indecision and then quilted every panel to death. There are a lot of pieces & pockets for this bag and nearly every one required quilting.

In the end, I’m pretty disappointed with this bag. I’m not crazy about my fabric choices or quilting designs for starters.  It is also a really oddly short size/shape when it is zipped shut so you can’t actually put anything taller than the top seam of the pockets into the interior pockets. This means anything like rotary cutters would have to be in the exterior pockets. And the dealbreaker for me is that the lining and interior pockets are super puffy, to the point where they’re in the way.

I do like how it opens super wide, and is very sturdy, so it might work better more as a tote where I just never close it up. I think it would work for some applications, but definitely not for the purpose I had intended for it.

Zipper bag specs:

• Size: Exactly as written in the pattern

See you back here next time with another zip pouch!