Birthday Birdie Sling

I was given a super cute Amy Butler purse pattern and a gift certificate for fabric for my birthday that I finally had the time to make! It turned out to be pretty easy. I pulled it out on a Sunday afternoon and finished it up the following morning. As always, the cutting (my least favorite part) took the longest.

I made a couple changes to the directions. I used a third fabric for the straps, rather than using the same color as the band around the top of the purse. Also, I added a magnetic snap to the band as a way of closing the top of the bag.

So far this purse has been the best I've made yet. It's deep and has large pockets. My favorite part is that it has one wide strap, rather than 2 narrow ones, which usually make my shoulder and neck hurt. The side is great because there's enough room to toss in a sweater and my knitting.

The Purse Bag Thing

A few weeks ago I stumbled across Anna Maria Horner, a somewhat new fabric designer. I fell in love with her designs and colors, and even her patterns. I flipped through her book Seams to Me at Barnes & Noble one day, and then went home to find it for half the price on half.com! After ordering, it arrived a few days later. 

There are some super cute patterns in the book I'd like to try, including a skirt, some 9 inch storage tote cubes, another bag, a dress cover, and a few ideas for some hand applique. The book overall is a great beginners how-to-sew guide as well. I learned a few new things about clipping corners and curves as I worked through the purse pattern I used. 

In the end I settled on the "I'll have one of everything bag" pattern. I ordered a few fat quarters from Anna Maria's new line of fabric called Good Folks, and a couple half yards from laniejane when they had a free shipping sale last week.  I started cutting it out on Saturday while Tom was working on our new computer, and spent the afternoon on Sunday sewing it all together. It was so easy! 

While I was working on it, Tom thought it was a hat for some reason, which I find pretty funny, because I'm sure everyone could picture me wearing a hat as vivid as this! 

It is lined, but has no pockets. I think it would be pretty easy to add pockets if I make this pattern again. I absolutely love the braided straps! 

(They actually inspired another project I've been working on that I'll try to finish and post in the next couple days as well!) At first I wasn't sure if I liked the tassel ties on the ends, but I think I've decided they're fun now. :) The size is great, but I think without pockets I'll need to find a little zip-case of some sort to put things like my chapstick in so it doesn't get lost in the bottom!