Bagmaking: The Companion Carpet Bag - Vinyl & Cats!

Ta da!!

I have finally finished this commission. It was a real labour of love. Emma, who I made it for, provided me with this amazing cat fabric. You can get this on ebay. It frays like a b*gger so I had to use a LOT of fray stop.

She wanted a doctors style bag and she wanted vinyl. I said I had some turquoise vinyl which would probably go well, and we went from there.

The sewing pattern I used was the companion carpet bag by Mrs H (not yet available unless you're in the bag of the month club).
You can see other examples of this bag here  I've made it twice before in Cath Kidston fabric, but this one is the larger size.

A LOT of work went into this. I machine quilted the vinyl, and I also hand quilted parts of the cats on the front and side so they would 'pop'. I made the handles (the rivets aren't quite straight - lets gloss over that) and you can't see the cute little nickel bag feet on the bottom here.

There is an inner zip pocket and some slip pockets too. 

The stripey tabs are to make opening it easier, as it has a large snap frame in there. 

I cut the heart out of the vinyl before sewing the cat in there and using the polka binding. I used soft and stable foam to keep it a bit more rigid.

I'm really pleased with the way this turned out. Its a unique bag thats for sure!

Another Carpet Bag - Cath Kidston clocks (again)

I finished a bag yesterday. I have a few too many orders to cope with at the moment - fortunately I've had a bit of extra time at home waiting for people to fix the boiler, so I managed to get this commission completed. 

Emma saw my previous carpet bag, and wanted the same Cath Kidston fabric, but with a black polka contrast instead. I found some pu handles on etsy, and they arrived yesterday morning just after I told her I couldn't finish it until they arrived!

There is an inner zip pocket as well as slip pockets and a front pocket with a magnetic fastener and polka piping.

The tabs are to help pull open the frame. 

Anyone wondering what it looked like before finished: this is before I  put the handles on 

This is it held together before I sewed the lining to the outer. It then all gets pulled (handles and all) through a smallish hole in the lining (birthing!) to get it right side out.

Also I realised yesterday I was wearing the same print but in green!

Bag of the Month - Companion Carpet Bag

This year I decided to join the bag of the month club. Basically, its a bag pattern download club - you don't know which patterns you are going to get in advance - its all a bit secret (although you do know which designers are contributing)

I am already behind, but I did finally get the January bag finished!

January - Samantha from Sewing Patterns with Mrs H designed this Companion Carpet Bag (mine is in the smaller size)

I used some of my Cath Kidston fabric for this. Clocks for the outside, floral for the inside.

There is one zip pocket and two slot pockets. There is also an external pocket with a magnetic closure.

I used premade bias binding to make the green piping. 

Looking at it, I think maybe I should have put it along the top edge between the contrast and the main fabric, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. The straps are pre-made. I've not used those before so this was a first.

Overall I'm really happy with it. I love the frame feature and I already have taken an order for another one of these (this one sold straight away)