... until I realized I had this great piece of fabric (the old tunic from my last post) just waiting to be repurposed in its deep plum coloured baby corduroy loveliness. I decided the California Girl pattern was perfect, and the size of the parts needed was small enough so I didn't need to make any extra seams.
The back and the flap are corduroy. For the lining and front I used a floral print, originally cut up by my mother to make a shirt dress for one of her daughters. By the colour I would judge it to be my sister P. Turquoise or yellow would have been for M, light blue or bright red for T and brown, rust or olive for me. We all had our own favourite colours.
So, here it is, with pockets under the flap and inside. I'm still looking for wonderful buttons for the flap. I have great ones, but some of them are too colourful, some are too shiny, so I keep looking.
I'm not a tiny person, so there was some leftover fabric after I finished the California Girl (go ahead, this link is to another version!). I also happened to need a smaller bag for a nephew's wedding this weekend. None of my old purses would do. My outfit is unusually colourful, but the corduroy just happens to be the same colour as my new tunic. The new bag had to be small but large enough to hold my EpiPen. I'm allergic to wasps, and I can imagine the local wasps will find their way to a garden where there is wedding cake and perfumed ladies, so I must be prepared. So I measured the EpiPen, and the short sleeves of the old tunic which were the largest pieces left of it, and I designed a little bag for myself.
I had used all long strips of the tunic for the California Girl's strap, so there was not enough fabric for a strap without too many seams. I went shopping and found exactly one velvet ribbon, luckily in an OK colour, and a dark blue gross grain ribbon for the strap lining. I forgot to think about keeping the bag closed, so I just added two little squares of Velcro by hand under the flap afterwards. To the bag front I managed to sew the other halves by machine.
Sewing with corduroy was pure joy. I used my machine's walking foot because of the heavy fusible interfacing. For use in a quilt top nothing special is needed. I have some narrow strips and yoke pieces cut on the bias left over from making these two bags, and I will put them aside to wait for a suitable project.
Now I just need to pack for tomorrow's flight. Weddings are such happy events!
