Hearty Houndstooth Handbag

Who doesn't love alliteration? I've got a new bag to share with you. Well, not new. You've seen the design so any times, but I've never made two the same so I always like to show them (it also makes a nice visual reference to look back on to show how the same bag can look so different depending on the fabrics).

So you remember this bag that I wasn't crazy about? To be clear it was a fine bag, not a thing wrong with it--it just didn't have enough "me" to it. Plus the black on the brooch contrasted with the brown in a way that irked me. I found a beautiful leather flower brooch on eBay that matched better, put that one on, and donated it to the fundraiser being held for my friend's sick husband. Which leaves me again without a wintery bag, but got me an order for another houndstooth bag, this one in black and white. And a new home for the heart brooch.

Here's the kind of weird part. Both fabrics are houndstooth of the same scale. All of the details and measurements are the same. But I absolutely love this B&W one where I only liked the brown one as a friend. And that flash of red is just so perfect!

My instinct (as it almost always is) was to line it with red and white polka dots. I was told they were a no-no. You have to wonder about a person who doesn't love red polkies, eh? Kidding! A splash of red was deemed just fine and dandy. Joann's had exactly what I was looking for, and a few people even commented on how nice the differing patterns looked together.

In order to economize and save a zipper I pulled a little switcheroo. On the main zip, I took off the pull and replaced it with a larger one. I also had to make a matching cosmetic bag, so I used a long red zip on that. I then took the remaining bit that I had hacked off and attached the black pull to it--three zippers from two.

The one thing I did that I wasn't entirely sure about was that I did the zipper casing in black instead of the houndstooth as I normally would have done, thinking that the straps were in contrasting black so this would be good too. I'm not entirely sold on it, but I in no way disliked it enough to rip it out.

I started giving the straps more of a quilted look with extra rows of stitching--I really like the way it looks, especially on a contrasting strap. I was considering making another one of these for me, but then I was looking at my current handbag and how it's already too big for what I carry so what was I thinking making one for myself anyway?

I must now go lint-roll this bag, apparently. AGAIN. I've only done it 843 times already. Have a good week!

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