When did it happen? My oldest daughter is 15. 15 years old!

Her birthday celebration was spread out over almost a week. We took her to dinner and had cake on Wednesday, her grandparent's took her to dinner at Red Lobster on Friday, she had an out of town regatta on Saturday, the day of her actual birthday, and celebrated with sailing friends, and then on Monday we gave her her presents.

One fine day a little over a week ago I walked into the sewing room to find a cryptic little note with two beautiful fabrics attached to it, describing in detail, with drawings the handbag she wanted for her birthday. Nah, she's not opinionated or fussy! She was looking for a hobo-style bag with pleats at the top.

Instead of making exactly what she wanted I pulled out Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol and made the beauty bag, adding a third fabric to the mix as well. It's the first thing I've made from that book ... and now I can't wait to try another.

I love this bag. I wasn't sure if C would like it because it's so busy (it's very busy) so I made her a tote as well (more on that in a later post). For fun I tried the bag on and looked in the mirror ... and I love it. I'll be making another for myself, though I'll adjust the pattern smaller slightly, as I'm not a big bag person.

The bird (which my mother thought was a fish ... which didn't do much to boost my confidence in C. liking the bag!) is appliqued on and the circles are reverse appliqued, using narrow strips of coordinating fabrics sewn together.

I made a few little modifications, adding a snap closure and making the pleats a little larger to make the top opening a bit smaller. The hardest part of making the bag was following directions ... I very very rarely use a pattern or instructions when I sew so that took a little getting used to - more than once I wanted to just jump ahead and do it my way, but I didn't and I'm glad because the steps made sense and weren't hard to follow at all.

Oh, and she liked it! She said it was exactly what she wanted. Whew!

Happy Birthday C.

The fabrics came from Hancock's of Paducah, purchased on our way home from vacation. We did little damage at the store this time (not like last time!) ... we were in and out in less than 25 minutes. The bag fabrics, and those below all came from the $4.98 table (most pieces about a yard in length). The great thing about that table is that it's mostly bolt ends and are current fabrics ... the bolts they're selling right now.

I averted my glances from the rows and rows and rows and rows of wonderful fabrics filling the store ... maybe someday I'll make it in there when I've actually got some time to shop.