A handbaaaaag!

I made a handbag!  I am seriously chuffed with myself, not because it was difficult (it wasn't) but because it is something that I would normally push to the back of the queue for when I have time and then never find the time to make.






























This project is the kind that evolves on its own accord and before I knew it I was making a bag without really knowing how I got to that point!  I saw a bag I kind of liked the look of but didn't want to buy, then saw that Stone Fabrics had some really lovely waxed cotton from Barbour at a reasonable price and thought it would be a nice alternative to a leather bag.   I love the used look of this bag already and I know the more it gets used, the better its going to look!

I had already bought some beagle print fabric which I believe is also a Barbour fabric (not entirely sure about that!) which I had found from Crafty Baba's Ebay shop (it seems to be out of stock now but Guthrie-Ghani has some) and thought this would make a great lining.  I then saw that there was a handbag pattern in issue 6 of Love Sewing magazine.  Plans started coming together!

I veered slightly away from the pattern in that I put a zipped pocket in the back of the bag for essentials.  I also used a magnetic closure because that was what I had.  A friend had happened to give me a bag with a broken zip a few weeks ago because she thought it would be useful, and how right she was!  I took all the hard wear for this bag from it and another broken bag I had squirrelled away.  I was surprised at how easy it was to sew through the fake leather buckle strap bit.  I had to unpick all the original stitching as it was cream, but it didn't take long to redo the top stitching then attach the strap to the front flap.

Sewing with the waxed cotton was really interesting and not as hard as I thought it was going to be, in fact it was really quite easy!  I did try ironing it just to see what would happen (the wax melted, obviously!!).  Because it is slightly sticky it did not need pins which was great although I did put a couple in and they didn't mark.  I found the best thing for pressing the seams open was to run a knife along them and I also used the knife to mark the fabric.

The strap is my favourite part of this bag.  I used the sliders I harvested from one of the bags to make it adjustable so I can wear it either as a shoulder bag or a cross body bag which I find is especially useful in the winter when straps slide off bulky coats.  It was so easy to make but so satisfying!!

The construction of this was very straight forward and was a nice, easy bag pattern.  I have made a few bags before but always tote style shopping bags with no closures.  It did take while to make because there are quite a lot of pieces but I took my time and really enjoyed making it.  The husband has just walked in and asked for one for him but "bigger and more like a man bag" so I guess I'm going to be making more bags in the future!  Another thing to add to my Christmas sewing list....