Totes Unique - Sunshine Birthday Gift

Sunshine Birthday Gift

Last year, June 2020, my husband's niece was due to marry, then came Covid-19 and restrictions meant it had to be put on hold.  The postponed wedding now goes ahead this week, exactly 365 days  later than planned.

Early last year I made four small fabric bags for the bride & her 3 bridesmaids to carry essentials, however there are now 4 bridesmaids so I thought as she was also celebrating a "big" Birthday, I'd make the bride something different as a gift.  Some pieces of different fabric were left over from dress fittings & mask making so I decided to make the new bag a memory of the day by incorporating some of the pieces into it. 

As there was no fabric from the wedding dress to make a mask I made the bride's face covering from a Makower light cream cotton fabric, "Doodle Ditsy" and added an ivory lace cover it.The Groom, Best Man & Page Boys were made in Makower "Spraytime, Black" which, from a distance, looks quite velvety.

Face Coverings for the Bride & Groom

 

Face Coverings for the Bridesmaids

Face Coverings for the Page Boys

For the pattern, I used the Bagstock Designs Sunshine Crossbody. It was printed off with the size reduced to 80% to give a bag with a boxed base constructed as a smaller wristlet clutch with two carry options; either by the front clutch strap or by its detachable wristlet strap.

The main panels for the bag are ivory faux leather and fabric taken from 2 different bridesmaid's dresses. The ivory cotton & lace used for the bride's mask was used for the lining & both internal pockets are lined with the bridesmaids' satin fabric (I forgot to take the photos of the interior).

They say it's good luck to put a coin in a bag you give as a gift so I thought as I'd found an old sixpence while looking through some boxes, I'd get 2 birds at once so the bride can follow the rhyme:

 

Something old, 

Something new,

Something borrowed,

Something blue

And a silver sixpence for her shoe.

I'm very happy to say that the Bride loves her present.

Totes Unique - Sunshine Wristlet - Ocean Wave

  Totes Unique - Ocean Wave

 

Totes Unique Ocean Wave was created from the Bagstock Designs pattern "Sunshine Wristlet" which I have modified to produce a rounded boxed base to make it more roomy inside.  Inside are both slip and zipped pockets.

This is a very versatile pattern and can be made in a wide range of fabrics.  For this bag I have made the side panels in navy "antique" waxed cotton with the main panels & lining are from an Aldi "Ocean Wave" bundle.

The main zipper is in navy with rainbow teeth with a rainbow star pull.  The remaining hardware is in gunmetal.

This is the same pattern as the Grey Thomson Tartan bag with a change of wristlet style, this version has a detachable strap.  

I think that with the wider base this would make a really nice small cross body bag for those days when you don't really need to carry too much with you. The addition of a couple of strap anchors and some card slots might just do the trick.  That is something I may have to try in the not too distant future!