Thursday, May 9, 2013

Mosaic Bag


For a while now I've been catching glimpses of beautiful fabric by the talented people at Umbrella Prints, and when I heard that it was time again for their annual trimmings competition, I didn't waste any time ordering myself a packet. It was love at first sight when I opened the package -- such a wonderful collection of scraps to play with!


I went for my drawer of linen scraps to add in a little more variety and ended up cutting a total of forty-nine squares, each one finishing at one inch after they were all sewn together. The mostly low volume design looks like a miniature mosaic to me. Along with the Umbrella Prints, there are fabrics in there by Echino, Melody Miller, and Heather Ross. It was a lot of fun to mix them all up and see how much detail I could fit into such tiny squares as I did my fussy cutting.


I've been planning to write the requested tutorial for the patchwork bag I showed you almost two weeks ago, but I wanted to do a little experimentation with interfacing first. This bag was a great opportunity for that. I love the extra structure that a firmer stabilizer gives to this version. Once again, I used my favorite yarn dyed essex linen in black as the main exterior fabric -- I just can't get enough of that stuff!


The inside is one of Anna Maria Horner's gorgeous Parenthetical Flight prints from her Field Study linens collection. It's incredible to me that as small as this purse is -- nine inches square and just two inches deep -- it holds everything I need to carry with me when I go out. There's space for my new wallet and my triple-zip pouch with room to spare.


I added a double pocket to the back of the bag which turns out to be just the right size for my sunglasses and phone. The largest trimming piece from my packet made a perfect accent, and I lined the pocket with the same fabric I used for the bag interior. For one final touch of whimsy, I added my last paper airplane charm to the zipper, just like the ones I used on my gift pouches last week.


I don't think I've ever carried around a purse so small, but I adore this little bag. It feels like a piece of summer to me, and seeing all the snippets of my past projects in that mosaic just makes me happy. I do believe this bag is going to get a lot of love...

Update: I've written a tutorial for a slightly larger version of this bag which you can find right here. Sew and enjoy!

16 comments:

  1. Great bag!! It does look like a nice mosaic... can't wait for that tutorial!

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  2. I love the look of Umbrella prints but haven't treated myself to any yet. Your wee bag is lovely - and you are doing a good job of selling essex linen in black to me, it is definitely on my want list! juliex

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  3. So cute! I love how the patchwork hints at pluses.

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  4. Did you buy a bolt of the Essex??? This little bag is adorable and it looks great with those cute fabrics.

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  5. absolutely gorgeous, Heidi. Love all the teeny tiny squares, and pockets, and your pouch and wallet, too.

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  6. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! Are you the reason i can never find any of that Essex Yarn Dyed, have you got the worldwide reserves of it?? :o)

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  7. WHOOOO...those are tiny pieces. LOVE IT!! It fits everything so perfectly, it doesn't seem small.

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  8. Ooooh - my kind of bag! It's divine.

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  9. oh I love your teeny tiny patchwork and quilting!

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  10. You have a lovely selection of fabric! I wish it wasn't so expensive for me to get them to Canada!

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  11. What a gorgeous bag Heidi! And what a great way to incorporate all your favourite fabrics :-)

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  12. I would open up that bag all the time just to enjoy that AMH linen! Beautiful Heidi!

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  13. i did something similar last year. i love the tiny tiny squares and their prints are so great! i love this!!

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