A Selfish Sewing Week Bucket Bag ~ Done! ~

After I missed Selfish Sewing Week last time around I told myself that I would try to get ahead of the game the next time so I could participate and finish something. I’ve been updating hints on my Instagram account this week, but haven’t shown my finished bag. So here it is!

My bag has no name, but I can tell you I’ve had this idea in my head for some time. I am SO happy it tuned out just as I envisioned. The main exterior fabric is an upholstery vinyl called Wicker Pk Chocolate I purchased at JoAnn’s.  I had originally planned to use some softer leather, but after re-covering 6 kitchen chairs in this material I had enough leftover to use this instead for my bag.

The bag is a simple pattern, but the addition of the weaved fabric, ribbon and linen give it a sharp and sophisticated look.  The linen is my favorite 100% natural I’ve been using for years.  It’s my go-to for projects where a pure linen is needed.  Because of the bags circular shape I opted not to add a zipper and added pockets instead.

The ribbon I used is a soft 2″ wide cotton embroidered ribbon I found in a bin of lace at an estate auction years ago.  Because I used it as handles, I stitched a strip of linen behind it to give it a bit more structure and durability.

One thing about working with upholstery fabrics, leather, etc. You need to use the proper needles and a teflon or roller foot.  I sew with heavy fabrics all the time so I do a lot of work on my industrial machines.  This is a walking foot industrial machine, but has a cylinder body to it to sew and topstitch bags of all shapes. I used this machine yesterday to topstitch the bag together. The walking foot really helped keep all the materials together and the larger thread size gives it a polished look.

The final touch I added was a strip of ribbon with a repurposed O-ring in the middle to use as a weight to keep the bag closed. All-in-all, it was a pretty easy sew and fun to know this bag will only be used my ME!

Thanks for reading and hope you like my new bucket bag.  I’m linking up with Selfish Sewing Week over at Imagine Gnats.