Adventures in Sewing Purses

I asked Mr. ShowMe to get me Lisa Lam's book, The Bag Making Bible, for Christmas last year. My plans were to sew my way through it and improve my bag making skills as I learned new things. The first bag in the book is the Peek-A-Boo Pleat tote. Here's my version.

 

And about the time I finished it I found out my employer was sending me back overseas. Having gone once already I knew I wanted a better carry on bag, so I skipped ahead in my book and made the Great Getaway Bag next. 

It was just the perfect size. Big enough for all my carry-on necessities, plus my laptop, so I was able to pack my lap-top bag in my checked bags and not deal with in while I was traveling.

I still haven't made all the bags in the book, but I've found it a valuable resource. I've learned a lot of things that I didn't know before. Whenever I'm trying a new purse design and want to add a feature that I haven't tried before, it's my first stop for instructions.

Luggage Tags

I wanted to make some luggage tags to help my dark green suitcase stand out from all the other dark green suitcases. I looked at and even tried a few tutorials online. I ended up taking the things I liked from a few different ones and added a little of my own ideas in the mix to come up with this. I'm really happy with how they turned out.

 They're fabric on both sides with Velcro at the bottom keeping them together and elastic loops at the top to slip knot onto the luggage handle.

It's hard to see in the picture, but I bought a wallet photo insert for $1 that had six photo sleeves at Target. I cut the sleeves off and separated the two pieces of plastic so I got two pieces of clear plastic from each sleeve. For my buck I have enough plastic sheets to make twelve luggage tags. I just stitched around the three sides leaving the top open to slip the piece of paper in with my secret identity printed on it.

I also finally braved the dreaded button hole and ended up wondering why I was so nervous about doing them! They were a breeze!!