Lovely Owls

WOW!  That’s the word I come up with when I finished this bag.  I simply love this bag!  I find that the more I make bags, the more I seek out patterns that challenge me or have a unique feature.  I love the outside front pocket.  But before I gush more about this bag, the designer is Swoon Patterns.  I love their patterns.  This is the second one I have made.  The first one was, if you remember, the Ethel bag.  I made that one for my mother and she loved it and uses it for her church books.

This pattern is from their vintage collection and its called the Donna.

I had the owl and green fabric and was trying to find the right project and when I came across the Donna I knew it was the one! The green material is a mix of poly and cotton and is heavier than the owl quilters cotton material.  I just knew I didn’t want to hide the owl material inside the bag for the lining, so I opted for a mixture of the two!  I think what really nails this bag is the hot pink piping!  When you think about adding hot pink to green it kinda sounds off the wall, but it so works!

The original length of top handles were too short for my liking, so I added a few inches and made them a tad longer!  Also, in the instructions I added what was called a zipper end.  It’s the tab that the swivel clip is attached to.  I thought it was going to cover the zipper end.  Makes sense…right?  However, after the installation and sewing of the zipper end the instructions never mentioned what to do with or what the function was.  I thought that was kinda odd and it’s not in the picture above that shows the Donna Bag.

The only thing I wish I would have done and will be doing on the next bag and that is getting a zipper with a bigger pulley.  I didn’t think when I bought this one and it’s a bit small for the purpose.

So…at the end, when I was doing the handles over, It came to me…why not make an adjustable strap!  One that could be a cross-over strap!  DANG!!  I already had the tab to attach the swivel clips and I was lucky enough to have a slider in my hardware bucket, but unfortunately not an antique brass one.  I hope no one notices!  🙂

I was hoping to have enough material left over to make a second one just like it, but because of the remake of the handles and the addition of the adjustable strap, I do not. 😦

BUT…I have enough to make a sweet little framed coin purse and maybe even a small clutch/wallet.  It will be my little owl family! 🙂

I also have the Mabel which is another Swoon pattern that I’m dying to make!

Thanks for stopping by!

Ali 🙂