Skyline bags design project

Getting my bags ready for 3^rd Friday Downtown in Decatur and my Etsy shop have consumed the last two weeks.  This post summarizes my “bag journey” so far.

There are many types of bags, colors, looks I could make (and probably will!).   But at this stage, I really want a consistent look and feel to my products.   At the same time, I want the products to be unique and stand out.   Something one-of-a-kind.    

I fell in love with a particular fabric that is a continuous city skyline pattern – a very urban look.  My idea was to cut out unique skyline shapes and appliqué them onto different background fabrics to create unique bags, pillows, and possibly other products with a city theme.   The bags, I thought, would be perfect for travel, and also would make the statement “I love the city!”

Here is my first bag, a mid-sized tote that I made to test out the skyline concept: 

Eventually, I want three types of bags in my collection – a mid-sized tote, a small cross-body bag, and a light backpack-style bag.  After sketching out several designs for the cross-body and light backpack, I realized those bags could be just different sizes of a single design.   This would give me the consistency I was looking for.   So I temporarily abandoned the tote and concentrated on these.  Here is an example of each:

     

What these have in common is a front that has a skyline appliquéd onto a contrasting fabric, a back that is made of the skyline fabric, two zippered, lined pockets on the back, and paracord straps threaded through grommets.  The bottom is “boxed” to give it depth, as is the upper pocket which fills the inside of the bag. 

A selling point addresses a pet peeve of mine related to backpacks:  Why would you want pockets, even zippered ones, on the outside of a backpack?  I did not feel comfortable in crowded spaces or traveling with the idea that someone standing behind me could access my bag.   Instead, my bags feature pockets on the inside, next to your body.  This is more secure and allows the outside of the backpack to have an uninterrupted design.    These pictures show the back of each type of bag:

                

I selected seven different background fabrics and made a cross-body bag and light backpack using each one.    Now that the bags have been made and are on my Etsy shop (DawnSewingandCrafts.etsy.com), I need to get back to the mid-sized tote.  How can I redesign the tote so that it looks like it belongs with the others?