A day not wasted

I set off this morning to go to Derbyshire, and stopped off at the car boot sale on the way out. I thought I might find a pair of trainers as mine are nearly at the end of their usefull life. I want black or any dark coloured ones, not those impractical white and pink ones. Found some but unfortunately the wrong size, never mind. Someone shouted 'everything 5p in this box', so I had a nosey through it and picked out a nearly new, white leather belt, bargain I thought. I felt spots of rain, and not a bit of blue in the sky. The rain got heavier and everyone started packing up and leaving. Not much fun walking in the rain, I thought, so I went home.

So to plan B. Make a bag. I had some upholstery fabric offcuts from the Scrapstore, and found a template for a bag in a magazine. I cut two pieces back and front, a 2inch wide gusset, and a piece 2.5inches wide for the shoulder bag length strap.

Before I stitched it together I put the decoration on the front. The red leaves were cut from another piece of upholstery fabric, I then painted the edges with clear nail varnish to stop it fraying. After sewing it on I put more varnish on to make sure it definately wouldn't fall apart, and then I added five red beads.

I made the lining out of some thin grey fabric. The ends of the strap are sandwiched between the outer and inner layers, and luckily I had a black zip of the right length.Here is my new bag.

It looks lovely, I am really pleased with it. the measurements are 7" by 9", and 2" deep. Enough room for essentials, purse, phone, keys, etc. So the day was not wasted, I will get to Derbyshire one day.