It's mine, all mine!

(Sometimes you make something, which is supposed to be for someone else, and you are quite pleased you went a little bit wobbly around the edges, because you really want to keep it for yourself.)

I had a custom request for a make up bag, so I made this.

I love the cherry fabric. It has a layer of polyester wadding (my new favourite thing!!) to give the bag some structure, and the spotty lining is upcycled from an old dress of Poppy's.

Why am I so afraid of zips? (And buttonholes - perhaps I have developing a fastening-phobia.) They always turn out fine when I pluck up the courage to put one in.

Anyway, I'm keeping this, and I promise to make a better one for my customer :)

Loving my new bag

It's the bestest bag ever!

My sister bought me some packs of small fabric pieces for my birthday. I've done a little bit of patchwork but I'm definitely no expert.

I chose 12 of the fabrics, and cut out 2 squares from each - 12 squares for each side.

And I stitched them together - remembering to reverse the pattern so that nothing was upside down. I felt very clever for thinking of that!

I decided to put a layer of wadding and used some turquoise fabric for the other side. 

So this project became my first attempt at proper quilting. It was rather awkward doing the middle stitching - not sure how you'd manage on a piece much bigger.

Here's the inside; I made the trim and handles from some old jeans. This is why the handles are quite short - I have pretty short legs!!

And I even made a tab with a buttonhole. I still have a completely ungrounded fear of buttonholing and avoid them wherever possible.

So, there it is - my new bag, it's not perfect but it's mine, and I made it all by myself without a pattern or even a proper plan.

Ready to be filled with sweet wrappers, old raisins, a biro which doesn't work, old receipts and an odd glove...