Handbag and Hairclips

My kids have hit the age where the number of birthday party invites is increasing. Last weekend, the party was for a girl from Jacob’s kindy. Two days before the party, I hit panic stations, wondering if I’d have to head to the shops. Luckily, my husband had a boy’s night out planned – a Saturday night of uninterrupted sewing – surely I could come up with something!

The little girl’s Mum is always telling us about the fashion advice her daughter gives, do I thought a couple of hairclips and a handbag would be perfect.

The handbag is the Blossom bag by Amy Butler. It’s a free excerpt from the book Amy Butler’s Style Stitches: 12 Easy Ways to 26 Wonderful Bags, available on the Sew Mama Sew blog. I printed out the pattern pieces at 60% of their original size. This ended up fitting perfectly on a fat quarter for the main bag pieces (it was a fat flat from Spotlight – no details of designer/print name). The handle was white quilter’s cotton from my stash, and the lining was another fat flat.

The closure is Velcro, instead of a magnetic snap. I also didn’t add the dividers, but put a couple of pleats in the side to get the same effect as how the dividers are inserted.

I didn’t quite get the pieces the right sizes for the way the handle pieces are done on the front and back. There are no pattern pieces, just measurements, for them and I wasn’t sure what proportions I wanted. My brain was too frazzled from not enough sleep to properly think it through. So it’s not perfect, but still a good-sized bag for 5 year old carrying around her treasures.

 

I got Celeste to model it, to make sure it was a good size. She would have happily kept it for herself. Looks like I’ll be making another one in the near future.

I’ll have more details on the hairclips soon.

What’s your favourite handbag pattern?