When I left on my weekend retreat I was not as inspired for sewing as for knitting. As an afterthought I grabbed a couple of fat quarters from my fabric stash and googled "free purse sewing pattern." I came up with this, the Buttercup Bag. Using a fat quarter for the outside and less than 1/4 yard for the inside, it was the perfect bag.
I was suddenly very inspired for sewing. Funny how that works.
The only thing I didn't love about the Buttercup Bag was that it closed with a snap (which I wasn't into, because of my propensity for tossing my bag into the backseat of the car or onto my bed) so I modified my zip bag tutorial by substituting the buttercup bag pieced sides for the zip bag rectangles. The result was adorable - and the bag only took me an hour to complete.
When I went to my local quilt shop before leaving on the trip (for the fabric on the bag below) I spied a lovely wallet pattern and brought that along, too. I completed the wallet with the scraps from the buttercup bag (plus a few other bits from my scrap bag) and my friend made me a matching checkbook cover. Perfect!
And finally, I made a Buttercup for Lulu. She needed a place to keep her ballet shoes during the week and to store a snack during class. (And by the way, she picked out that fabric. Ahem. That's all I'll say about it.) I was going to make her a backpack but when my mama-retreat friend suggested I make this instead I loved the idea. Polka-dot lining and another zipper and this one was done is under an hour, too.
I am loving these little bags!
