Saturday, August 22, 2009

A fondness for birds

It seems I've been embroidering birds lately. I'm not sure why. (See the scary "Alouette" post)

One day, I was frolicking about on Flickr when I found this vintage embroidery transfer pattern:

embroidery

Something about it inspired me, and I decided it would make a nice purse. I always need a more plain handbag, but whenever I'm sewing I'm attracted to the fun fabrics. I got some plain, tan fabric and used a transfer pencil (bought at Michael's) to trace the drawing after printing it on my printer. I then transferred it onto the fabric with the iron and embroidered it.

Photobucket

Next, I dug around in my stash for a lining fabric. I found this perfect one. It brought out all the colors in the embroidery, but it's sort of bold, so I decided to but a band of the plain fabric around the interior top so that the lining fabric isn't distracting from the embroidery and is less visible.

embroidery,handbags, totes

Then I sewed her up.

embroidery

To do something different than usual, I used square rings on the handles. It gives it a nice touch.

embroidery

6 comments:

Nima said...

wow..awesome finish

Marissa said...

Beautiful! Your color choices are always so right. Love the lining, too...and the design reminds me of the Partridge Family. Remember that show?? Of course, I am so young that I only saw the reruns....coughcough.

moongipsies said...

really really cute bag. .. and yes, I thought of the Partridge Family as well. It was my fav show ever as a kid.

You did a great job.

Amy said...

That. Is. Themostbeautiful. Thing. I. Have. Ever. Seen.

Kris said...

That is a great bag! I do the same thing with overly exciting fabrics and bags! I'll have to keep this one in mind!

BiscuitsandYarn said...

I love this....beautiful stitching...and great inspiration. Now I want to make a purse. :)