Wedding Fever

I have a family wedding approaching. Looming really considering that I am without the mainstay of most women. A bag! I have bought my fabulous outfit - a Phase Eight Chateau Print dress and matching bolero (please don't let us have a freakish snow showers in April…). I have ordered shoes to match, have bought a small fascinator (no Princess Beatrice Pretzel for me), and yet, the perfect bag has failed to materialise. What's a girl to do? Make her own, methinks.

I bought some fabric Tic Tac by Kim Schaeffer for Andover Fabrics PATT3135, which was a close match but a little too peachy. I then rifled through my fabric paints and found a good mix - Stewart Gill Metamica in Amourosa and Rich Bronze.

Stewart Gill paints which I mixed together

Mixing the two together gave me a pinky-purple colour. I used a Crafter's Workshop 6"x6" template Capricious and stencilled a piece of the fabric.

I sprayed with craft mount to stabilize the stencil on the fabric

When the fabric had been painted all over, I left to dry and then the next day I heat set with the iron (no steam) for 5-10 mins (10 overall, but 5 mins for each section - I am very impatient and also, I won't be putting it in the washing machine.  It is merely insurance for the freakish snow storms...).

The colour is better on the top photo, although I would rather it had been so for the bottom - that's a MUCH better match for my dress.  Ah, c'est la vie.

After this, I used the Gathered Flowers Crafter's Workshop Template to stencil over some parts of the fabric. I didn't want to cover the swirls completely.  And after that, I gave it a glitter wash with Stewart Gill Galactica in Salmon (currently on sale at Rainbow Silks!  A bargain). It is very blingy and was very watery, but this was ideal for me, as I needed to cover the whole piece. 

I then covered the whole thing with a black chiffon scarf, to knock back some of the glitter and make it a little less peachy.  And it worked, pretty much.  It's a much better match with the dress.

So, now I have my fabric pretty much ready, all I need now is a bag to make it into. I have enlisted the help (unbeknownst to her) of Lisa Lam, the fantastic bag maker and owner of the wonderful U-Handbag (who, the last time I ordered from there, had also put a little pack of Haribos in there, which is enough to raise your respect of anyone).  She has a fantastic purse tutorial on her blog for straight and curved purse frames, so I took a little look on there.

U-handbag purse tutorial

This website is great.  You not only get free tutorials on there, but all the lovely bag making materials and tools you need to make them.

Having looked at the tutorial, I realised it wouldn't fit the frame I had (from Panduro Hobby).  In fact, on closer inspection of my frame after reading the tutorial, it is going to take a little extra brain power to fit the frame to a pattern, so I decided to have a look on U-Handbag and see what else I could see.  And in the end, I settle for the Baguette Clutch Purse Kit:

http://u-handbag.typepad.com/uhandblog/buy-pdf-download-sewing-patterns-by-uhandbag-.html

I downloaded it as the kits were out of stock. Luckily the purse frame wasn't, so I ordered that, downloaded my pattern and got started.  Hurrah!

And this is as far as I have got:

Looking fine I think.  Just needs a flower.  Which I think I have seen on a pattern for another bag so I might be a magpie and filch that.  When I dig that pattern out, I will acknowledge it.

Will leave it there, as need to be somewhere else 5 minutes ago...  Story of my life.