Handbag Retrospective

Still here!!  It’s taken awhile to get back on track after the porch sale.  I am working on some new things, but nothing ready to post yet.  In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to post a retrospective of some of the handbags I made a few years ago (before I started blogging).  Bags are one of my favorite things to make, since you don’t need a ton of fabric and you can usually complete on in a weekend.

This is a messenger bag I made for my husband.  This is my own pattern – but I was inspired by the bag Jack Bauer carries on “24.”  It’s hard to find a basic bag that a man would carry, so that’s why I designed my own.  I used Black Canvas for the outside and a lightweight black cotton for the lining.

 

This is the Black Forest bag (pattern by Melly and Me).  This is a great fall purse, although it would pretty in Spring/Summer colors.  I downsized the original pattern so it is more like a handbag than a tote bag.  I love the little green buttons – they are the perfect accent!

 

This is the Birdie Sling (pattern by Amy Butler).  Her patterns are always well-written and the bags are very stylish.  Her bags tend to be rather large, so I reduce the size so I don’t get overwhelmed when carrying them (I am about 5 ft tall).  I used Decor Bond as the interfacing for this, but it is way to stiff.  The hand doesn’t fall right – but hey, that’s how we learn.  After I made this bag, I found out about interfacing called “Shapewell”.  It is sturdy but it is not stiff like Decor Bond.  When used in this type of bag, the fabric drapes nicely (I saw some bags that used it a a fabric store).

 

This the Chelsea Bag (pattern by Amy Butler).  The notched handles were fun to make – they are note as hard as they look.  I really like the simplicity of this design and when you use very bold and graphic fabric, you get something that looks tres chic!  This bags uses an very stiff interfacing (almost like poster board) called Timtex. It was interesting to work with, as it does not have much give.  It also is pretty thick, so you really have to take your time when sewing it.

 

This is the Parasol Bag (not sure of pattern, maybe Pink Sand Beach?).  This was made with some delicious looking Batik fabric!  This is a great stash-buster and also can look very different depending on what types of fabrics you use.   You can also just use one fabric on the outside, instead of doing the different panels, which is another way to change up the look.

I hope you enjoyed my virtual purse show!  More new projects will be posted soon :).