I sew the Carlos bag from Atelier Jumadi in a Japanese indigo fabric

I had wanted to make myself a bag for a while... and Carlos by Atelier Jumadi caught my eye...

After a few weeks of hesitation about materials, colors, ... the project was ready!

So I’m taking you to discover the Carlos bag by Atelier Jumadi!

This way!

The Carlos bag pattern

Carlos is a large half-moon handbag, a smart choice that combines elegance and functionality. When you live life at full speed, it's very practical! Carlos is designed to adapt to our busy days.

With its generous space, it allows us to carry everything we need while staying organized thanks to its inner zip pocket for small items to secure and three large additional pockets.

The zip on the top of the bag ensures a secure closure, keeping our belongings protected in all circumstances.

Whether for our workdays, shopping trips, getaways, or wild evenings, the Carlos Bag is the essential accessory that combines practicality and style!

Moreover, depending on the materials used, Carlos can be either chic or sportswear... it's up to you to choose!

Practical information for sewing Carlos

Carlos is available in one size only in PDF and printed versions on our site.

It's a good bag pattern for those who want to start making accessories. It will suit resourceful and motivated beginners or rather from the intermediate sewing level.

Small practical details but very interesting:
- the seam allowances are included and visible on the pattern
- the pieces do not overlap for those who want to buy the printed pattern and since there is only one size... well, you can cut into it without second thoughts!

In the seamstress’s basket

To sew Carlos, you will need to choose an outer fabric and a lining.

For the outer fabric, choose a fabric with body: suede, velvet, jacquard, quilted, denim, wool, thick gabardine ... but you can also be tempted by a thinner fabric, in which case you just need to interfacing it.

I’m especially thinking of Japanese fabrics and their beautiful patterns!

And for those who don’t dare to embrace patterns for the outside, you can go wild with the lining!

To make this pattern you will need:
- 80cm of fabric + 80cm of lining
- 1 zipper of 55 cm
- 1 zipper of 15 cm
- 2 rings (width: 26mm)
- Interfacing suitable for your fabric
- coordinated thread
- a sewing machine

My supplies

A few years ago, I brought back several small coupons of Inden from Japan to make a bag. They are among those fabrics you buy while waiting for the right project. Talking with a student about the opportunity to use Inden to make a Carlos bag, I thought it sounded really appealing!

In short, I took:
- my coupon of Inden with cherry blossom pattern,
- plain black textured Japanese fabric,
- a matching zipper by the meter with 3 sliders,
- gold rings
- woven fusible interfacing
- black Gutermann thread

And off we went!

For your information, I equipped my machine with a denim needle because there are quite a few layers for some seams!

Technical points for sewing this model

As I said earlier, Carlos includes several technical points:
- installing a simple zipper
- attaching the closure for the inner pocket with ribbed stitching
- attaching the inner pocket with stitching to create compartments
- creating the handles
- topstitching the zippers
- managing the lining

Overall, everything works out very well by following the provided booklet.