I love Sundays

What a beautiful day we are having here in Minneapolis.  It is so warm out that I opened up the front door and have had non-stop foot traffic ever since.  Some were sewers, some just browsing and seeing what the store is all about! 
I hope you all were able to get out and enjoy this day!  If your in the neighborhood stop in and say Hello!

Handbag Happy

I'm a bag lady - no seriously, I love making bags.  I also love buying a good bag, but if there's a chance I can duplicate a 'ready to wear' bag by making it - I will.  (and now that I'm sewing on leather I guess you can say I'll never have to buy a ready-to-wear againg - but to be honest - I probably will).  Anyway, I stumbled on a blog today that, to me, was better then finding that perfect bag  (well almost).

http://u-handbag.typepad.com/uhandblog/2007/02/had_a_quiet_wee.html
 
U Handbag has all kind of tutorials on how to make all kinds of handbags - I love it!  You can even download a PDF of the tutorial!  If your ever inclined to make a bunch of bags and sell them at one of the many craft shows this summer she even gives hints on how best to set up shop, price your goods etc. 

I just received this fabric from Amy Butler

and have been itching to make something with it.  Now I'm going to be struggling to decide which handbag to make with this fabric!  Did I mention I love making handbags?  Hmmmm - we have a sewing group, a quilt group ... maybe we need a "bag lady" group at the store!

Pink Messenger Bag

I created another upscaled bag using two leather jackets found at my local thrift store.  One of the jackets is a pink suede style with cute little front pockets that I wanted to try and utilize.  The other jacket was a rust red duster style which was super soft!  No fancy pockets, but I did end up using what was there on the inside of the bag.  (see below) 

I had a hard time deciding what type of bag to make and ended up on the messenger style.  I figured leather was really strong and I'd be able to carry a lot of stuff in this bag - and I wanted to save my shoulders & back by carrying the bag across my body.

 Here is the final project. 

I found sewing this bag a lot easier then the first tote bag I made, there are many reasons why that might be:

1.  I learned a lesson and removed all the bulk before I started to sew.

2.  This is a softer suade leather - the rust jacket was actually pretty thin in places.

3.  I used a different sewing machine.  The black bag was sewn using my Janome Quilting machine and this bag was sewn using a Viking Dream 2 machine.  I love, love, love my Viking and part of the reason may be it is just 'stronger' then my Janome.  Not to say the Janome isn't a nice machine, it's great for quilting, just not so much for sewing through multiple layers of leather.

I can't get enough of these projects, but I'll think I'll hold off till I catch up on the rest of my sewing.  Yea, right!