To-Do Tuesday 2-2-16 | The Vivian Handbag

It’s February already, can you believe it!? This last week I made The Vivian Handbag, a Swoon Patterns design. I wanted to finish it by January 31st, but didn’t make it. I did finish it by February 1st, so I’m happy with that. January’s goals are complete!

This was my first time making a Swoon Patterns bag. The instructions were clear and there were plenty of pictures, which is something I really need the first time through a new pattern. I am definitely planning on making this bag again.

The fabric is Fairyland in Indigo Red by Alexander Henry. I chose to fussy cut the fabric so there was a fairy on each side of the bag. The fairies on the sides of the bag are actually side pockets. She just barely fits, but I think she’s cute there!

I decided to accent the fabric with glitter vinyl. I have been struggling with vinyl lately, so I wasn’t sure how this would turn out. I was pretty ambitious in choosing to use vinyl for the piping. A lot of slow sewing, grading my seam allowances, and clipping the vinyl around the curves helped with making the piping a success! The pattern called for stabilizer support to be fused to the wrong side of the lining. I didn’t have fusible Pellon Peltex 71F, so I chose to wrap the glitter vinyl around my sew-in Peltex, add some purse feet, and sew it to the bottom of the bag. I think it made it a really neat feature!

For the lining I used the Words print from Remember by Carina Gardner for Riley Blake Fabrics. The words are such happy little thoughts, I thought they fit the fairy theme perfectly. The pattern only called for the interior zipper pocket, but I like lots of pockets in my bags. So I added the pleated slip pocket, another slip pocket, and a pen pocket to the other side of the lining. Great for storing keys and a cell phone!

The bag also had a drop in lining, and it’s the first time I’ve assembled a bag this way. I LOVE not having to turn a bag right-side-out through the bottom of the lining, so this is going to be my preferred method from now on. I could have done better with the stitching to attach the lining and the main bag; Part of the lining ended up a little puckered along one corner. Something to work on! I blinged up the bag with Emmaline Bags hardware. I really love the pizzazz her little hanging tags and her metal labels add to a bag.  I bought the purse feet from her too.

This next week I will be working on a quilt WIP. My Modern InstaBee 2014 quilt top is already assembled. I plan on making the backing, basting the quilt sandwich, and starting the quilting this week.

Did you have specific goals set for January? 
Do you have any crafty plans for February?

This week’s To-Do list:

• Make quilt backing for Modern InstaBee Quilt
• Baste quilt sandwich
• Start quilting

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