And a mini pleated beauty

I'm starting to look crazy to those of you who don't know I am on a mission to make these for the moms in our family (my mom, my mother-in-law, my husband's grandmother, and my sister-in-law). So, here's the second to last bag - a mini one for Shane's grandmother. I had the fabric already to make a big beauty when she shared that she needed smaller handbags. A big shout out to Julie (http://letter9.wordpress.com/) for sharing her measurements for her smaller bag. I didn't add any applique to this one as it is busy enough (I am a bit disappointed that the pleats don't stand out a bit more). I added this last photo for size perspective.

And another....

And, here's the one I made for my mom for Mother's Day. I really like the black and white combination, even if the appliques were hard to cut (I trimmed one down to about half its original size before I was happy with the shape!). For the pocket, I sewed a piece of black linen together with the fleece and accent fabric (Alexander Henry Yoko), turned it right-side out and pressed - I topstitched it closed at the same time I sewed it to the bag inside piece. That worked really well - it is a nice, clean finish while being very sturdy.

Another Pleated Beauty

Okay, here's another pleated beauty from BTRS. This one is for my sister-in-law for Mother's Day. It is very similar to the first one I made - differences include a plain bottom, and a padded pocket with a separation sewn in. I also lined the handles with fusible fleece and liked it so much more than my first bag that I ripped out the first bag to fix the handles. That involved a good deal of careful seam ripping but it was totally worth it (except now there is pen on the bag courtesy of the 16 month old in the house)!