Vera Bradley

Purchased my first Vera Bradley bag the other day!  (I found them on sale at a good discount or the purchase would never have been made.)  I thought it would be fun to use it on a trip I'm taking in a couple of weeks and then I plan to give it to my daughter.

I had a really cute quilted jacket that I bought at a Goodwill store in El Dorado, AR. I paid $5 for the jacket! That is the"top of the line" price ever paid for anything that is destined to have the scissors put to it.

A couple of hours of fun and...

I thought I might line it with the retro top on the right but decided to do french seams instead.

When I sent the pictures of my bag to daughter, I asked her which one she wanted?

Her reply...
Both!!!!!
 

Vintage

I love vintage fabrics and what you can do with them!

Vintage fabric, army green jeans, orange fabric for trim and the large pocket on the inside, ribbon and a little time and TA DA!!!!

This bag now resides in the home of a dear friend and is ready to be packed for a trip next week to North Carolina....

Love my hobby, love my friends,love my life...!

Free style

I realized something about myself today.  I enjoy making these bags because I get to use what I call "freestyle sewing"..you know, just take your scissors and whack, whack...!!  Hubby asked me yesterday if I was still "having fun" while cutting out a bag and I answered back with, "Yes! Wish this was all I had to do"! Just skip the chickens, cleaning, cooking,etc. and sew!

Here's what today's sewing turned out.  (patient with pictures please) (there are a few)

Jacket Mom bought for me at a garage sale. Turn the front sideways, add fabric &

You have a really cute pocket

This little pocket was one of the front side pockets on the jacket...now at top of bag

Another Jacket. This one bought at thrift store sack sale!

Whack, Whack!

Gray jeans to use for lining.

It's a bag....a really cute, "freestyle sewn" bag!  Don't you just love it!

That little pocket!

Other jacket....made a perfect pocket for the back

Just love my new tags

Pockets for the inside are made from a skirt I bought at a garage sale in NW Arkansas for $1.
Turned out to be really cute. Linen and fully lined, so I wore it all last summer before retiring it to the sewing stash cabinet. ( I wonder how much each of the times I wore it cost me...maybe .10)

Maybe I should call Taylor Swift and talk to her....I bet there's a country song in here somewhere... 

scissors, freestylin, sewing, chickens and cleaning...Oh! Yea!

The little things...

You hear so much of the time that it's the "little things" that make a difference!

I agree!  That extra little punch of something that makes you think, Ohhhhhhhhh! or Wowwwwww!

And so, (or should I say sew) with this in mind, I spent several hours yesterday at my sister's house using her time, talent and thread, to make these new tags for my bags!

Forgot to mention that I also used her machine!

I love how they turned out! 

Being in the process of turning a Hobby into a small, stay at home business doesn't leave me any room to spend a lot (or any at all) money on professionally made, "store bought", tags! That's okay!  I love these and can't wait to add them to the bags that are cut out and ready to be sewn together.  I ended up with 256 tags at 7 cents each with 15 different color combinations.

How awesome is that?  AWWWWESOME!

Sisters are great and I'm blessed with three. Thanks again Tra for all of the above and also for the soup!