Gumdrops on my bag

It all started with a beautiful cut of Marimekko material given to me by a friend. The pattern was too beautiful to cut into, so I decided to leave it as it is, and just quilt it. By basting some scrap material around the edges, I was able to make the canvas large enough to fit into my quilting frame, and then came the hours and hours of teeny weeny stitches.


Of course I got carried away, who wouldn`t with this fun pattern. I ended up quilting around each separate circle, and even doing some decorative stitches to make the circles into delicious candies.


To compliment this material, I needed something plain and sturdy, so I decided to upcycle some old jeans. The denim was all machine quilted in simple straight lines using navy blue thread and rainbow colored thread.
The denim shoulder straps (perhaps the best part) were inlayed with little rectangular scraps of material. I initially cut rectangles into the denim and then basted the scraps on the inside. It ended up being something like reverse applique, although I left the cut denim with raw edges for a fun and playful look. One of the rectangle scraps is a piece of material with my inkan (japanese name stamp) stamped on a piece of cream colored material. Now there will be no mistaking whose bag this is. (tee hee)


The inside of the bag was made using a beehive fabric by Echino in pink and turquoise green. This material is darling with bumble bees scattered throughout. The pink fabric was the main material with the turquoise green used for making accented pockets. I also went wild with some pretty purple velvet trim here and there and everywhere. I even covered the raw edge of the zipper with the velvet trim.

In the lining there is a general pocket, a cellphone pocket (with elastic to gather the top), a pen holder (for 2 pens) and the much needed and loved key fob. On the outside there is also a zippered pocket with the turquoise green beehive material used for the inner pocket material.

Problems with the bag:

urgh, really it is basically perfect, but if I had to be picky.....

I should have been more careful when sewing it all together. The bottom of the bag is a little puckered. The style of the bag makes it very difficult to open while it is around my shoulder. I basically have to take it off to get into it. Slightly inconvenient for a lazy butt like me. The top of the bag is closed with a zipper, but since it is rounded the zipper doesn`t lie super flat. Oh yes, and the pen holder on the inside of the bag was placed too high up and is difficult to access. It was a great idea, but would be better a little lower.

I should have machine quilted the little patches on the strap BEFORE I sewed everything together. For some reason it didn`t strike me as necessary until later.

Other then that, it is great, perhaps too great to use!