Birthday Briefcase

Birthday Briefcase

I've been married for 36 years.  In that time I've made my hubby ties, vest and even dress shirts for work.  Two days before his 59th birthday, I had the inspiration that his old briefcase was shabby looking and he needed a new one.  I would MAKE him one!  I searched for a couple of hours for a pattern but no luck.  I looked at the old briefcase and thought about my decades of sewing and thought...I can do this!  And so I did.  I made the briefcase without a pattern.  It was not as easy as I thought it would be...I had 1.5 days to do it...and trust me, there was fabric flying everywhere!

Here's the finished product:

His briefcase was always stuffed to the brim so I increased the gusset from 2 inches to 5 inches.  I planned on doing a drop in lining but I really didn't like the sloppy look so I stitched in the ditch on the seams to anchor the lining. 

I posted the bag on a sew website asking a couple of questions and a number of people were interested in my pattern...I've never made a pattern before but the idea is exciting....I think that will be my next adventure.