Hand Bags

The month of December has been a busy blur of activity.  I decided this year to make some gifts for people in my family and was very pleased in how they turned out.  While that was a lot of fun, God had been working on my heart to be more giving of my talents.  So some of the things I created are now in the hands of people I love, kids I teach in Sunday School, and various others that have come into my life.  I feel very blessed to have those people.  As a result, I started having a few people ask me to make them things which is very exciting!  You see at first my craft making was about making an income.  Now I just want to give to others when the opportunity arises.

  

One of the things that I made recently was a hand bag.  My sister asked me to make her one and I joyfully accepted the task.  I knew I wanted to make it bigger then the girls hand bag, so I finally decided that a 15" X 12" square would make a nice sized purse. 

Next was finding the right colors for her.  She mentioned she wanted neutral colors, rust or green or cream or yellow.  After asking my sister several questions about colors, color tones and emailing color options, I felt pretty certain I knew what she wanted.  The above fabric swatch is what we ultimately decided on.

I created an inside pocket and included a snap to close the top of the bag.

Almost done!  I emailed my sister this picture, but did not show her the final product.

Instead I emailed my nieces and showed them the final picture to make sure that it would be something my sister would like.

I squared off the end of the bag so it would sit nicely on the table.

I used 28" grosgrain ribbon for the handles and added a delicate trim to the top edge of the bag.

So what did my sister think?  She loved it.  Especially the trim.  I knew I had nailed that one because I have seen some of the things she had in her house and new that this was perfect.