Professional Tote

I finally completed my Professional Tote; it had been cut out since June. I'm a procrastinator and don't like to follow patterns!  The 14 pages of instructions for the Professional Tote by The Creative Thimble seemed intimidating before I began.  However, it turned out the instructions were nicely detailed and easy to follow.

This is the front of the tote.  Between the handles there is a zippered pocket with another pocket behind it.

There are pockets on either side of the bag.  I have an umbrella in one of the pockets and the other could hold a bottle of water.

 

The back of the bag has one large pocket with a magnetic snap closure. 

The top of the tote has a separating zipper.

 

Inside there is a large zippered pocket in the center of the bag.  On one side there are pockets for my cell phone, camera and some pens.

 

The other side of the inside has 2 open pockets and a pleated pocket with a pocket flap with Velcro.

I learned a lot using this pattern and will incorporate some of the features in future bags.

Besides the The Creative Thimble website, I found two blogs which were very helpful in constructing the bag.  Colleen's Space has  step by step photos showing how the tote goes together.  There She Sews! has a detailed tutorial on how to install the separating zipper on top of the tote.  (The pattern had called for a regular zipper, the separating zipper makes access to the interior much easier.)