Super Style Bag Swap

  

Sew, Mama, Sew! blog is hosting "Super Style Bag Swap" this month. I joined the swap and just finished the project yesterday.  This morning I sent my bag out to my lovely swap partner Melissa in SC. I know many recipients of this kind of swap would love to be surprised rather than to see pictures of what they are gonna receive before they open the package from their partner. So I asked Melissa if I could write about this on my blog before she sees the bag I sent. And I am permitted to do it. She says " I'll try not to peak :)". Thanks Melissa. And there it is. I made a kind of Boston bag with some fun elements.

The organizer of the swap assigned swap partners based on type of bag the participants want to make/receive & shipping preferences. My partner's taste is pretty similar to mine. She likes "fresh modern" type of fabrics and her favorite colors are "Orange and Mustard and Emerald and Raspberry (though not all together!), and even solids".  I don't use Orange and Mustard very much. But I love Emerald and Raspberry. So I checked through my stash and decided to use this print from Good Folks in Emerald Green.

 And also Melissa mentioned that she is particularly addicted to anything with trees or dandelions on it. That gave me an inspiration of design. I appliqued Dandelions with wool felt and a couple pieces of organza in front of the bag. The fabric I picked out is cotton canvas for the front.

 I especially liked the idea of using the shape of dandelion leaves in my design. It made the composition of my design more interesting. And I am glad the white down turned out really fun. I layered white felt and organza, 
 and stitched them on the canvas with white floss.

 On the back there is a pocket hemmed with the emerald print.

Lining is Green&White stripes print. I had this fabric for many many years in my stack. That means it is purchased in Japan. For reinforcement, I put a bag bottom which is a sheet of plastic canvas wrapped with fabric. Plastic canvas sheets are my favorite material for using as bag bottoms because they are very manageable. They are pretty much flexible and you can easily add the strength by layering two (or maybe three) together. I made one inside pocket.  Raw edges are all covered with bias tapes.

 I love this bag. I enjoyed making this so much. And I was so happy to see that finished. It was kinda hard to part from this bag, but I also would love to give this to my partner and made her a little happier. I think I have to make a similar thing for myself soon. I really hope my partner likes it and enjoys it.


Never forget I am gonna receive one from my partner! She showed me a sneak peak picture via email and it looked so good. I cannot wait to get a package in my mailbox soon. It is so exciting!

There will be more pictures in my flickr pool soon.