Patchy Bag

Wow, it seems like only yesterday when I asked for advice about making something from my thrifted Lilly items, but it's been almost a month! And, thank you, I got some great advice. One piece of advice came from Laine, who advised me not to cut up the umbrella print. I thought she had a great point about losing its appeal if the pattern was chopped up, so I went to work using just two of the garments.


The great thing about this skirt is that the fabric has different patterns in it. By cutting creatively, I could cut patches that look very different from each other. I cut one with mostly blues and greens, one with a lot of pinks, one with a big pop of yellow, etc. I cut five patches from the shorts underneath and haven't even touched the skirt part yet.





The pants...oh the pants. I've had these pants for so long that it was agony cutting into them. I felt like I was slicing off a toe. Once I got going, though, and realized there was no turning back, I calmed down.

Have you ever wished a garment you're refashioning wasn't QUITE so well-made? These pants were lined, and the lining was a real nuisance.





If you remember from the previous post, I used view B of Simplicity 2617 (that's the one in the upper right hand corner). This is a pattern designed by Autum Hall of Creative Little Daisy. I flirted with the idea of doing view C instead, as suggested by Columbia Lily, but something kept bringing me back to view B.

So then all I needed were solids. I was already sold on the khaki that Autum used in her bags, so I just needed something bright. After some rooting through the stash, I turned up a bright pink and tossed it on the pile. Bingo!

I didn't realize this when I was taking the picture, but it's pretty much the same "pose" as the bag on the pattern envelope!

I could take pictures of this bag all day. Here are some of its highlights:


Both the sides and the handle have these lines of decorative topstitching. I was terrified about keeping them straight and even, but it wasn't that difficult. They might be a little wibbley wobbley in places, but who's going to notice? I think it's a cool look!








The pattern directions also have you go over the seams with a decorative machine stitch. At first I was going to blow it off, mainly because I'm still using my mom's machine and wasn't sure how it worked, but WOW I'm glad I took the time to figure it out!








Here's how the other side looks. You can just see a little of the lining peeking out. I used fabric from the pants for the lining. I wanted the lining to match the underside of the strap, so I used the pants fabric, even though I could only get the pieces to fit by cutting the design sideways. Who will ever know?






Well, besides everyone who reads this blog!