Saturday, August 23, 2008

The Orange Monster Tote

One of the first things I found during of the last few evenings of fashion magazine inhalation was this purple Dior bag.

It's not exactly like the Hotpatterns Metropolitan tote, but it doesn't have to be for my purposes. First of all, I'm going to reduce the size of the tote so it isn't quite large enoug to carry my cats around in, so I could definitely slant it more in the direction of this Dior bag. I like the seamlines on the Dior - there aren't any on the Hotpatterns bag, but I was neither here or there on that; I knew I could always add them if I wanted.

The orange leather I purchased at Leather, Suede, Skins is actually in large enough pieces that I could make the bag without piecing, but I think this would give a more interesting effect than just flat leather, especially since mine isn't textured. Why did I think I didn't want textured leather? (Probably because it cost the earth, and this only cost a mid-size continent?)

Now I'm off in search of the perfect lining. I do have a ton of home dec stuff in stash, which would add a bit more stability to the bag, and if I put the lining together first, I can muslin out the size of the bag. There must be something with a little orange in it . . .


Parting shot today is Lily, my feline sewing assistant. She's almost the only cat allowed in the workroom - she's very well behaved, except when I'm working with linings. She loves to chew on the slippery fabric and then spend the rest of the night wandering around the house, coughing dramatically and giving me that guilt-inducing face that only a cat can give ... "you made me eat the acetate, you forced it on me, and now I'm choking and it's all your fault." That face.

4 comments:

Tany said...

Too funny, the story about your "feline sewing assistant", LOL!

Tracy said...

I used to have an assistant too, his name was Freeway.
He loved to bat at the thread on my machine and my serger while I worked. Be very careful with your furry assistant. Freeway passed away last year, the cause - his insides were damaged by the threads he ingested from my machine. I still feel guilty about it and it's been over a year.

CraftRage said...

Oh, THAT face. Yeah, I get that from Smooshy sometimes, except I normally get it when she bats a spool of thread across the room, then slams into the wall by accident when she gives chase. Least graceful cat EVER.

Marita said...

I know somethin' about those feline friends too, have eight of them, LOL!!! Is that gorgeous tomcat wonderer still stretching himself on your steps?