
I finally used this piece of my shibori fabric!
You might remember I had a yard of this design printed on Spoonflower Eco Canvas fabric about a year ago. Since then, I’ve been looking at it and wondering what would be best to make with it.

If you’ve been following me on social media, you may have guessed that I finally cut into it and made a bag. I used a pdf pattern by Blue Calla Sewing Patterns called the Dahlia Drawstring Bag. I wanted the patterned squares to be the focus so I had to plan the cutting carefully so that all the seams and lines would line up and not look out of place on the finished bag. It used a surprising amount of fabric by the time the pieces were selected (and quite a lot of brain power in the process!).

It is a bucket bag with side pockets. Here is the exterior piece all stitched together.

And a front view – the pattern suggested vinyl for the base and top front but I couldn’t find any that I liked so I cut up a Boden raincoat that I no longer wear. I like the fabric and want to refashion the top part of the coat into a kind of waistcoat so I thought I’d use the rest in my bag.

For the lining I used some pinky-red hand printed and discharged fabric that I had in my cupboard. I think it would make a nice lampshade cover with the light shining through it!

Here it is all stitched together – the top has a drawstring closure which meant putting grommets in. That was a challenge all of its own. Suffice to say that I’m not too good with a hammer. Unfortunately they were too large for the Crop-a-dile which is what I usually use for smaller eyelets.

And here it is all finished.
