A handmade bag

For my mum's Christmas present this year I made her handbag. I love making her clothes, but when it comes to presents it's often safer to make something other than a garment. I did make her a Linden sweatshirt last year though, so I would say that patterns that have been made before are also good for presents. I could have made another Linden but I wanted to make something a bit different that I knew she needed.

Here's the thing about this bag: I was actually supposed to make it a while ago. On our trip to Denmark, my mum bought this really lovely upholstery weight fabric from Stoff & Stil and asked me if I could make a bag for her out of it. That was over two years ago! In my defence, I wasn't purposely putting off the bag making: shortly after she bought the fabric she actually got given a new bag and so this one was no longer needed. After that I think we both kind of forgot about the fabric until I found it again in November. As her other bag was beginning to wear out, I realised it would be perfect to finally make her one out of the fabric for Christmas.

I would never normally make my mum a bag without first consulting her, so I was really lucky that she had actually already planned this one. This meant that I was able to use a fabric that she chose herself and a design that she liked without her actually knowing that I was making it for her as a present. For the design, I remembered her saying that she wanted an a copy of her old one, which is pretty much exactly what this one is. I even managed to re-use the old straps which I'm pretty pleased about. I think that on something like a bag it's really important to get the finishing details like straps right, so it's nice to have been able to use more professional looking ones. 

The eyelets are another detail that really elevate the bag into looking less handmade, as well as the metallic clasp to shut it. It's hardware elements like these that I think are always worth buying as they are the finishing touches. I also added a small pouch on the inside of the bag - again a feature copied from the other bag and something which my mum finds really useful. I made sure it's big enough to fit a phone in, but it's perfect for keeping safe anything that's small. As a finishing touch I added one of my labels onto the pouch and also a brown leather patch to the outside. Once again this was bought from Stoff & Stil, it's a small brown rectangle with a star on it and I love it! It's the perfect finishing touch and exactly the kind of thing you would find on a shop bought bag.

I was so pleased with how well this bag turned out and I think my mum really likes it. It's exactly the style that she wanted but with the added benefit of being in a really lovely fabric that she picked out herself - and of course the fact that it's made by me!  It may have taken a couple of years but the bag did finally get made!