Chevron Bag with Faux Leather Accents

I love bags! They're a fun accessory that say a little bit about your personality. I knew when I saw this bag I wanted to give it a shot, especially because I already had some chevron fabric and some faux leather.

The tutorial was excellent! My only problem was that I didn't quite have enough main fabric, so I had to adjust the measurements to make a smaller bag. Which is fine with me. I like the finished size of my bag very much. (For example, I used a 16" zipper instead of a 20".) The only other change I made to the pattern was making faux-leather handles rather than using cotton webbing. I thought that the faux-leather handles would make the bag look a little less casual.

I added an inside pocked with a 7" zipper (and wish I took a picture of the pretty pocket fabric. Darn.). I figure I can stick my phone in there since it always seems to get lost at the bottom of my bags.

I have to say I love this bag! Faux leather (i.e., pleather) is SO much lighter than real leather, so this bag is extremely light on my shoulder, which is a wonderful thing.

Would you like to make faux-leather straps for your bag? Here's how I did it:

Cut two strips 28" long and 3" wide. 

Fold in the long sides twice (like you're making bias tape) so that the rough edges are concealed inside the "tube."

Stitch the length of each strap leaving about 2.5" at each end (stitch very close to the edge). 

I then used a small round object (mine happened to be an Angry Bird plastic ring) to round out the ends. I traced the round edge on the backside of the pleather with a pen, then cut.

I stitched the straps down, following the curve of the bottom, then went back and stitched an X for extra strength!

I like the look! What do you think?