Esther’s Bow Bag

This month’s fabric was love at first sight. I absolutely love the mix of colours on the fabric. The colours and patterns on the fabric is reminiscent of a painting by Van Gogh. Can you imagine that! The painting depicted the view just before sunrise. 

When I saw the fabric, I initially, couldn’t think of garments I could make. With being so in love with the fabric, my first thought was to not cut into it and just enjoy the beautiful mix of colours on the fabric. But fabric, even the most beautiful ones were made for cutting. I need to print that quote in my sewing room because the number of fabrics that I have deemed to be too lovely to cut into is getting worrisome. 

After concluding that I needed to cut into this fabric, I went to the drawing board. I thought about making a top, I’ve been thinking about making the By Hand in Anna dress into a top. But as I considered my options on how to alter the pattern, I decided that I hadn’t thought it through enough to make a successful garment. But the Anna top is something I want to work towards. I also considered a simple pencil skirt. As I contemplated my options, I decided to forgo a garment and settle for an accessory. I don’t often think about making accessories but they are always wonderful makes. 

I started thinking of what exactly to make. I  considered making headbands and scrunchies. But, I decided to make a bag. Scrolling through the streets of Instagram, I discovered there are so many awesome bag patterns out there. Not to mention the numerous tutorials easily accessible on Pinterest. 

I attempted to streamline my options and was able to pick out some patterns I was interested in. Pipa the pouch by Sewing Masin is a pattern I have previously made but I consider it more of a purse than a bag. I think people use bag and purse interchangeably but I think a purse is a pouch that you place in a bag. Anyway, I considered the Pisa bow bag by Kate Eva, this is another repeat pattern for me and I have enjoyed my previous makes. 

I eventually settled for a new to me pattern – Sew Over It Bow Bag. I fell in love with this bag based on makes I had seen on Instagram so it was a matter of time before I made one for myself. The pattern has you make a judgement call on the type of interfacing you want as well as whether or not to interface the lining pieces. I decided to use a heavy interfacing for the outer bag pieces and a light one for the lining pieces. The bag is self lined. 

This cotton fabric was a dream to manage. It was stable to cut, took interfacing easily and sewing with it was just great. I followed the instructions to a tee and this was an easy sew. The pattern has you use a zip that’s at least 10″ but I used a 9″ zip and it worked out well. In fact, I could have done with shortening the zip an inch or so. 

I’m so in love with this bag. It holds a lot and it’s the perfect accessory to go with a handmade dress. In the future, I’d add loops to add on a chain so the bag can be hung on my shoulder.