With Halloween come and gone, I am starting to plan the upcoming holidays. This year, I decided to make most of our Christmas gifts by hand. As you can imagine, I have quite the task ahead of me! Luckily, a few bloggers have gotten together to feature Holidays by Hand. I am excited to sumbit some of my work and *hopefully* keep on track with the gifts! The first week, Sewing, is hosted by Simple Mom.
I first thought of making a book bag for my sister-in-law when I found out she would be starting high school this semester (she was homeschooled previously), eek! Unfortunately, though, as some well-intentioned plans go, I ran out of time before classes started! Oh well, now I have the perfect item for a Christmas present!
Elfriede’s is a local Boulder fabric shop with a selection of incredibly beautiful fabrics, and my weapon of choice when it comes to inspiration. Upon looking through their color-packed aisles, I stumbled upon this fabric:
I fell in love. The balance between the attention to quality and the whimsical nature of the pattern is exquisite. I left with a yard of this, along with some pretty, modern buttons and a simple, natural-colored weave to complete the package.
When I got home, I constructed the pattern from some printer paper and got started on assembling. I decided to mirror the images of the bird on the fabric by creating a cutout on the flap and outlining it in royal blue embroidery thread. Thick fusible webbing helped add some stiffness to the fabric, as well as made it easier to handle. I enjoyed creating this project as I went along instead of planning everything ahead. Sometimes this can cause problems, and sometimes it produces something even better than what I imagined when I began. I think in this case it was definately the latter! I am so pleased with how this bag turned out!
That’s beautiful!
[...] Kate made a book bag for her sister-in-law for Christmas, and it’s darling. I love her choice in [...]
you did a great job – I’m sure she’ll be thrilled and love it! Awesome!
it turned out beautifully! i love your fabric choice!!
That looks like so sharp and expensive. Love it and am a little jealous of your talent and the fact you live in Colorado.
I’m in love with your bird on the front of this bag! And, what did you make the handle out of, it’s hard to tell from your photo, but the two colors looks amazing! Well done!
Thanks everyone for your comments! I made the strap for the bag out of an old, sturdy cloth belt.
That’s a beautiful bag indeed, well done. So neat and stylish.
This is a beautiful, thoughtful bag. I love the bird fabric and the beautiful buttons! Nicely done. So inspiring!
I love this and would love to make one for my neice. Can you put the pattern up or at least tell us how you made it?