Just finished sewing my first Kandou Reporter Bag – here’s what I love and what I changed!

The moment I saw this bag on Instagram I knew it was meant for me! I was even more pleased to find out it holds my new Erin Condren Life Planner perfectly. The project comes to gather in just a few hours, the pattern is easy to follow and can definitely be made in a day.

I started sewing last night during our weekly Sew Together at Studio 365. Before the meetup began I cut out and interfaced all of my pattern pieces. Whilst conversing I was able to craft the front and rear panels and then I was back at it first thing this morning — eager to see how this beauty would come together. Whole bag was finished before lunchtime.

For my materials, I selected a faux waxed canvas from Sally Tomato, a floral oil cloth from JoAnn fabrics and a quilt weight cotton by Moda. The webbed strapping and hardware are from byAnnie.com.

The oil cloth is a non fray material so I was able to use a 1.25″ strip of that to bind the interior of this project and a .25″ strip to add accents to the zipper pulls.

Additional modifications included riveting the strap tabs to the side of the bag versus sewing them into the seam and omitting the two smaller interior pockets so that I could have more cargo area.

While the process is fresh in my mind I will make a second one. This time from quilting fabrics. I shall be sure to share additional photos here when it is done.

Thanks for reading along with me and I hope you are inspired to make a Reporter Bag for yourself. If projects like this are intimidating to you – consider joining us over at Studio 365 for more support! We’d love to see you in a future meetup.

❤️ Andrea