More practical sewing

Vintage handbags. They're lovely, but they do tend to be small. It's hardly surprising. At that time few people, and certainly few women, would have had car keys. Purses only contained money, not a raft of plastic cards as well. And no-one carried a phone around with them!

If I'm using a vintage handbag, I usually end up with some sort of 'overflow bag' as well, such as this one from Moo and Boom. It's made from recycled plastics, and I love it, but there's no denying that small items tend to sink into the depths, never to be seen again. Also, I used it in the recent heatwave, and discovered that the woven handles were quite scratchy on my bare arms.

'Before' shot

The solution? Line it, and add pockets. (Actually, 'add pockets' is the solution to many dilemmas in my world!)

I found some plain cotton in my stash, slightly thicker than craft cotton and a good match for the grey in the bag, cut out a piece for the lining, and then ironed in creases where the 'corners' of the bag would be. This provided a background for deciding on pocket numbers and dimensions. After trying various ideas, I went for long pockets at each end for glasses and sunglasses, a single large pocket on one side, and four smaller ones for odds and ends on the other. These were all made up and attached while the fabric was flat.

Pockets, part one . . .

. . . and part two

The straps for the handles were narrow strips of cloth with the raw edges pressed in to the centre, like bias binding, but cut on the straight grain. There was also a strip of fabric sewn round the top of the lining, like a facing, to provide some stability and enclose the strap ends.

When it came to sewing the lining into the bag, of course I couldn't use pins to hold the two layers together. Instead, I used clothes pegs, and they worked very well.

Sewing in the pegged-on lining

And here is the finished, upgraded, bag. It turned out exactly as I had hoped, and I'm very pleased with the end result. Not the most exciting or glamorous project, but the sort of useful and satisfying fix which sewists have at their disposal.

Completed bag, with lined handles

Pocketses!

And another half meter added to the Stashometer - at this stage in the year every win, no matter how tiny, helps!

Ending the year in credit is looking very unlikely!