Handbag heaven

Here's a little handbag that a friend asked me to make for her. I'm going to find it hard to let this one go!! I really love it I must say. Handbags are my thing, as anyone who knows me will attest and one of my favourite things about sewing and knitting is the ability to make my own for a fraction of the cost. I made one before Christmas last year that I got a tonne of compliments on, including probably my favourite one ever - "Is that an Orla Kiely bag?" (asked by 3 separate people no less!) So when S asked me to make one for her I was thrilled. I'm loving pleats at the moment and decided to try and work some into this bag. I took out my big box of fat quarters and spent a very enjoyable half an hour figuring out which ones to use. I had a lovely bundle of Freebird by Moda fabrics that I bought last month just because they were gorgeous. I adore the brown dotty one which reminds me of a dress worn by Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman and thought it would work great as a contrast lining. I had some difficulty deciding which coordinating one to put with it but finally settled with the floral because it was so fresh and to be honest, it just screamed "make me into a cute bag" to me.





The original fat quarter bag I made last year, I sewed using a great tutorial I found on Sew Mama, Sew. This time, I really wanted it to be my own. So I didn't look at any patterns purposely as I had a clear idea in my head of how I wanted it to look, with the dotty trim at the top, a pleated body and a medium length shoulder strap that would be comfortable to use.
First of all, I cut a long strip off both fat quarters for the handles and another strip for the trim at the top of the bag and then cut each remaining part of the fat quarters in half. I played around for quite a while trying different looks before finally pinning the box pleats on the floral, going for quite wide pleats. I sewed the trim strip to the top of all pieces and then did the side and bottom seams on the lining and the main fabric. I went for quite a wide handle, with the dotty fabric on the outside, and the floral on the inside for contrast.

I used fairly heavy iron-on interfacing on the fabric to give the bag some structure, and used a long strip of very stiff interfacing in the handle. Lastly I put in a magnetic snap button and, with right sides facing and taking care not to twist my handle, sewed the lining, outside and handles together, turned it right side out and finished the last couple of inches by hand. The main body of the bag measures about 9 inches high and 7 inches wide at the top / 9 inches wide at the bottom. Perfect for carrying wallet, keys and a few essentials. Voila!

Baby Buggy Blanket

So it's finally finished!!! My first attempt at a patchwork blanket worked out really well and I'm very happy with it. It's been a learning process and there's a few things I'd do differently to make it absolutely perfect but overall I think my idea worked out as I hoped.

It's made of 100% cotton backed with beautiful, soft minky.






The cotton and minky gives it a lovely weight.

It would make a lovely blanket for a baby girl for a buggy/car seat or in a crib, soft and snuggly on the inside and bright and cheery on the outside. It measures approx 100cm by 74cm. I could easily size up to cot size too.





I'm very excited that it's finally done and the whole process of designing it was really exciting!! One of the things I am loving most about my new venture is that it's challenging me to come up with ideas and there's great satisfaction in that. There's a world of difference between following a pattern and generating the idea yourself. It's the getting from idea to finished product that's most challenging for me, particularly as I am mostly self taught. But I really (really!!) love when it comes together as this did. All that's left now is to parcel it up and send off to my beautiful niece and god-daughter L to enjoy!!

Saturday Sewing

I have far too many projects on the go at the moment so decided that today was the day to finish off some that have been sitting in limbo for a while. I really only had some handsewing to finish off on these two tunic dresses and after hurting my back (again!) this morning, they were perfect to do while sitting with the hot water bottle on the sofa. They are for my friend's two daughters, the eldest of whom is my god-daughter and I think they work well together. I might make a little bag or hairband for F as a special extra if I find a few minutes tomorrow. We are going to visit them next weekend so I'll be handing them over then and hope they like them.

I am in the middle of my patchwork blanket but also making curtains for our room which I am making progress on heming most nights, but the curtains are slowing everything else down! I'm looking forward to getting them finished, not to mention hanging them. The fact that the new carpet for the room finally arrived last week has put me under a bit of pressure to get them done. But I can't wait to see what it all looks like and how it comes together.

Getting Knitty

Today was a wall-papering day! Myself and T blithely sailed into uncharted territories when we broke open the pack of wallpaper paste and the (still hideously expensive even though they were in the sale) Laura Ashley Kimono wallpaper in a beautiful duck egg blue. It all looked so simple in the YouTube videos. 5 hours later it wasn't so pretty in our house! But it is done and it looks gorgeous.

So, taking all that into account I didn't get any sewing done today. I did wash fabric to prep it and I wound up my busy day with a little knitting. I'm doing a cardi for myself to a lovely pattern I got in a magazine last month. I'm using my bamboo needles for the first time and loving them. Plus the yarn is gorgeous - it's a King Cole bamboo cotton mix and is soooooo soft. I'm knitting it in a grape purple and am very excited to see how it will turn out!



Nearly finished F's tunic too, juast need to hem and put on trimmings. Fingers crossed by tomorrow I will be done with tunics. I promised D I would sew him a new fleece monster tomorrow so that will have to take 1st priority :-)