Handmade Handbag

Lisa at U-hanblog makes the most gorgeous bags and lets you have the patterns for them for free. Ive been trying to make this bag since January and ive finally succeeded!! And man do i love this bag :) Its probably the first thing ive sewed in a long time that im 100% happy with. I tend to be a slap dash with my sewing, something i always regret at the end, but a lesson i never seem to learn. Maybe this handbag marks a turning point towards more precise and accomplished sewing... i do hope so!

For Pleat's Sake Tote bag, pattern from U-handblog

Needlepoint Clutch - finished!!

Ta-da!!! Finally my needle point clutch is finished and i love it, its going to be my favourite going out handbag thats for sure :)
Its a pattern by Purl Bee and I first blogged about this in January and then updated you the other week so im really pleased i finally finished it. It was a labour of love but it'll get loads of use out of it so i dont mind all the hours of hard work. Might be laying off the embroidery for a while though!

Embroidered clutch update...

Well im getting there with this project.... its only been 4 months since i posted about it! But i finally feel like ive broken the back of it. Fingers crossed, and life permitting, i might even get it finished in the next week. Just need to finish the last three rows, add in the contrasting colour areas, add the lining and the bind the edges and it'll be done - i'll keep you posted

Upcycled Wool Bag

  

I turned this old wool coat of mine into a fab new handbag!
I used this tutorial as a basic starting point but changed all the sizes and omitted the interfacing and fleece as the wool was sturdy enough. I also changed the pleats from multiple single pleats to one double pleat which worked much better with the wool
I L-O-V-E how it turned out and even lovely BM was impressed (pretty hard to do normally!)
And even better it was free!!

Handmade handbag

OK so I've not actually posted anything I've made on here yet, but I am working on stuff, mainly a big knitted blanket/throw which should be finished soon - pictures to follow. So instead I thought I'd post about the stuff I really want to make this year.
Lisa over at U-Handblog gives away her some of amazing handmade handbag patterns for free. The instructions are really clear and you can buy all the bits you need from her online shop, u-handbag.com, as well. She has some lovely leather handbag handles that I haven't been able to find anywhere else. I tried making her For Pleat's Sake Tote last year but got all my measurements messed up and it was a bit of a disaster! I'm also not the neatest and most accurate of sewers so it was even more wonky because of that! So this year I'm going to try again. I've bought some gorgeous brown leather handles from u-handbag, some cute Michael Miller Bonehead Fabric in grey for the outside and some fifties inspired blue fabric for the lining. I'll post photos once I'm done...