Charm Quilt Handbag - Work-in-Progress

It's Work-in-progress Wednesday. This week I have been very inspired by my charm quilt. I'm loving the way it's coming out. As I've been sewing the quilt together, I've been picturing the pattern used in a handbag as well. I also need practice at free motion quilting (still haven't decided if this is the way I'll go with the charm quilt).

So, on Monday (when I should have been taking my machine in for a tune up), I started making a handbag. It's been so much fun. I've only done one side with the quilting as it takes a lot of time and thread (and I'm a bit stingy with my thread as I hate having to buy more). But I like how it's looking with just the one side. I did do a small patch on the back. Each charm fabric is used only once on the bag. The only thing repeated is the neutral fabric for the alternating squares and the ribbon. I used some upholstery samples for the back and inside and scrap fleece for the batting on the inside. This baby is made from all scraps, recycled materials and thrift store finds.


This is the front and back before I stitched them together. The little pocket between the two ribbons on the back is free motion quilted and it just fits my cell phone. The pieced front has a pocket that will button close. I matched the squares of the pocket so that it looked like one complete quilt and did the free motion quilting on the pocket as well as the squares around it. I am pleased with the way it came out.

I was originally going to use bamboo handles - but the ones I have that I rescued from an old purse were too small. And I thought that square shape of the purse lent itself well to just one strap. I like the way this belt looks - especially since the pocket on the inside has been bordered with a ribbon that has a turquoise strip and a royal blue strip.

I also intend on embellishing the bag with buttons - because I can and because I love buttons. The front pocket enclosure button will be a beige button that has some rough engraving on it. I'll surround it with a few larger buttons. All buttons will be in clusters of three because I love clusters of three.

I have yet to figure out the closure for the purse. I'm leaning toward a magnetic closure... but haven't ruled out a button closure.

I'm not sure how long this project will take - but I've already invested three to four hours in it. But, it's been worth it.