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Fat Archie

 
by Linda Theil

A cute bag kept popping up on my Internet feed that looked a lot like Diane Spencer-Ogg's "Arch Zipper Pouch" pattern with a lot of extra bells and whistles. Having made so many of this brilliant pattern (see list below) , I challenged myself to create a Fat Archie to rival the manufactured bag I admired. What I ended up with was a kind of small backpack, bowler-style bag of no great distinction -- but amusing and satisfying to work on.

I designed my Fat Archie using J. Wecker Frisch's "Mad Masquerade" for Riley Blake Designs published in 2022. I originally bought the fabric to make a tote for a friend who is a fan of John Tenniel's Alice in Wonderland drawings. The fabric featured several large panels that I could use for all the extra pockets. The base and zipper gusset are made from Mora faux leather from Emmaline Bags. The finished size of this bag is 11 x 10 x 3.5-inches.

I will describe how I created Fat Archie, but since the project was an experiment  please view the following information as a guide; and use your own judgment if you make your own variations. Note: I interfaced all extra pattern pieces.

Pattern ammendments I included:

I increased the height of the bag by adding four inches to the height of the large Spencer-Ogg Arch Pouch front and back, and adding eight inches to the length of the zipper, and zipper panel pieces.

I Added a lined, pouch pocket to the front of the Fat Archie using the front pattern piece from the original Arch Zipper Pouch. I added extra fabric to make two darts in the bottom sides of the pocket both outer, and lining. I cut the top 2.5-inches from the ammended pattern pieces to make the exterior and lining for the zipper insertion.

This front pocket also includes a zipper cover cut from a straight piece of folded fabric and sewn to the top of the zipper before insertion. 

Once completed, I used bias binding to attach the top of the pocket to the enlarged front of the bag and basted the bottom and sides of the pocket to the front of the bag, matching bottom and side edges.

I added a full-length zippered pocket to the bag back using an exposed-slot zipper insertion method. To do this you need to cut a full back pattern piece from the feature fabric that will double as the pocket front and the bag back, plus a full back piece that will serve as the full-length pocket lining. I also cut another full back piece to baste the pocket assembly to, but now I'm not sure exactly why except it seemed necessary at the time.

I added a small exposed-slot zipper to the interior back of the bag using two seven-inch squares of fabric to make the pocket and the lining.

I added 12-inch grab handles made of doubled and interfaced twill tape to bag top front and back.

I also included a patch pocket on the interior front of the bag, but that pocket was included in the original Arch Zipper Pouch pattern.

Fat Archie interior with bound seams.


If you’re wondering what happened to the base extensions on front and back bottom of the original pattern, I sewed them as extra-wide, seam allowances, and used the excess to reinforce the base.

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