Finished

This morning I put the last touch to my handbag project. Other than the couple of printed fat quarters I purchased I made this totally out my stash at home, hand dyed fabric, threads and plastic washers, even the handle. It was brown and a little too narrow but Alan used his dremmel to opening out the handle then painted it black.

The inspiration from the bag came from M'Liss Rae Hawleys' book "101 Fabulous Fat Quarter Bags", it was the Saddle Bag Purse. I loved the look of the bag except that 2 saddlebags would never be enough room to carry all the stuff I have in my bag and that she had used binding around the edges. Now I know most people might have taken the hint to declutter some of the junk out of their bags but I knew this was NEVER going to happen. And secondly I believe that life is too short for messing around with binding.

So my bag has 4 pockets, 2 are on the inside. I also think this may be a little safer. It is also a bit shorter and narrower. I made 2 fronts attaching them like you would a lining. Pulled the bag through to the right side through the opening and top stitched it closed.

The buttons are Singleton Buttons. Fabric covered buttons for when you don't have any button forms. I made these using some plastic washers. I'll do a tutorial. I make the shank a little differently to other instructions I've seen.

Now that I'm on a roll with the sewing machine I have a bird to make for Pauline from Funky Friends Factory.

Back to Hand Dyed Fabric.