Finished in the car on the way to Bar Harbor...

pleated beauty handbag-back
Originally uploaded by mcghol

...my "Pleated Beauty Handbag" from "Bend the Rules Sewing." I'm so pleased with this bag! Looking at everyone's photos on Flickr, I was worried that it would come out much too large. But I felt too amateur to be messing around with the measurements, so I just trusted the pattern and dove in, using that favorite vintage sheet (seen here and here and here before) and a vintage curtain. On the front is the free-motion embroidered flower I made. The back is unadorned. In the car on the way up to Maine, I stitch-ripped the other flower I'd added and then didn't like. I also finished hand-sewing the lining in the car.

This bag turned out to be perfect for vacation. Big enough for my usual purse stuff, plus diaper stuff, hat, sweater, burp cloth, sling, and sometimes more for Lucy, plus camera and whatever touristy brochures we picked up, plus books I bought along the way. But not too huge, as I'd feared. Just right!


(I'm not usually quite so matchy-matchy in my outfits. But, hey--I was on vacation. My options were limited. And who knows me there?)