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 - Sunflower & Bee, A Sunshine Crossbody Bag

  

 Totes Unique - Sunflower & Bee, 

A Sunshine Cross Body Bag

 
Three needles (one a spectacular break), 4 different sewing feet, two x taking apart of machine to find out what the f*** was happening with the thread/stitching and 3 days later, it is done . . . phew!

(Three days? On top of everything else I've had Labrynthitis and it has been causing havoc so a lot more rest breaks than usual.)

 

I don't know what was going on, things started off well, I got the back done no problem at all but then things started going all to pot, I hit the zip on the front panel & broke the first needle, then the skipped stitching started & the thread was whipping up in big loops that caught under the needle causing the thread to break. I tried a walking foot, I tried a roller foot, I tried a teflon foot to see if they would make a difference . . . they didn't. In the end I decided to go and have a break from it and left it overnight all the while muttering under my breath, I thought the Fuffin' Puffin was bad . . . but this - sheesh!

The next day the covers & the gloves came off. I'd already had to take off the plates as thread had got jammed inside but this time the whole bobbin area was cleaned within an inch of its life and put back together. I changed needle again, went for a Microtex one this time and completely re-threaded the machine. Hooray, it worked, finished it!

So this is it, a Bagstock Designs (free) pattern "Sunshine Crossbody Pouch" which is the big sis to the "Sunshine Wristlet" I made last week. I've actually cut out another Wristlet in the Sunflower & Bees fabric when I cut the crossbody out and put it aside for when I feel up to it.

The exterior has main panels with Timeless Treasures "Sunflower & Bee Chalkboard" and side accents of Lime Green Cordura-type waterproof canvas interfaced with Decovil Light. Interior is a lime green cotton and the pockets are lined with Timeless Treasures "You Are My Sunshine - Bees".

The pattern indicates only one zipper tab on the main zip but if I make this again I will be using two as I think it makes for a neater finish. Not on the original pattern is the pair of card slots to the interior pocket that I thought may come in handy.

The hardware has a dark grey/black "Gun Metal" finish.

 

Exterior Zipped Pocket

Interior Zipped Pocket with 2 Card Slots