Friday, March 9, 2012

Lavender menace

The weather today is alternating bright sunshine and blowing snow (and occasionally both together). It must be spring!



Tomorrow evening a friend is hosting a get-together for which I want to femme up a little. I didn't have an outfit-coordinating clutch or handbag of any type, though, so I pulled out a bunch of fabrics and arranged them into pairs until an appropriate combination jumped out at me.

Gathered bag

I know it's a few years old, but this tutorial remains useful and adorable, and it's a pretty good way to produce a charming result from two fat quarters and some interfacing scraps and nothing else. I think it took longer to pick out fabric than it did to make the bag.

The handles are interfaced strips of fabric folded into quarters lengthwise, so they are quite stiff and solid (though not uncomfortable to hold).

Handles

The lining fabric is a Nani Iro Fuccra double gauze fat quarter I'd been saving for a rainy day.

Gaping maw

I cut the shell/lining rectangles to 9.5" x 12", to make a slightly narrower and deeper bag than the instructions produce. The finished bag is the right size for my wallet/keys/lipstick/powder/phone, or two 50g balls of yarn in coordinating colours.

Colour-coordinated knitting