not so shabby purse

I've been noticing lately how my latest little knitted purse is starting to look worn. I don't know if it's because I drag it everywhere and have two little boys, if it's because the cotton yarn cannot withstand the traffic it gets or what, but I decided I needed a new purse. Especially after making my wallet it just looked silly in my old purse so I made this one.
I purchased this fabric for this purse a few months ago and also planned to make a backpack from it. I'm glad I made this first it gave me some lessons for sewing with this fabric that I wouldn't want to have learned on a large project. I found this pattern in a quilting magazine months ago, but couldn't justify making the purse as I had a fairly new knitted one at the time.
It's a neat fabric I scoped at box mart. It looks like leather but is soft like suede. Not like vinyl at all. It's easier to sew than vinyl but I did use my teflon foot. I made bias binding for the first time and used it to bind the edges and create the strap. I think this bag is really me. The lining fabric for the interior side pockets is a light tan cotton print with brown swirls very similar to this. The center/main pocket is the same as the exterior fabric.
This pattern called for both interfacing and fleece "batting". I used a fuseable fleece. I should have just used canvas for the purse body and probaby nothing for the pockets. This fabric laminated to a knit backing so it already has substantial body. Adding the fleece added weight and bulk that I didn't need. One good benefit is that the contents "show" less through the bag with the fleece batting.
Having made this I'm looking forward to making the backpack for our diaperbag!