Japanese Inspired Bucket Bag

My wonderful Juki was up and running this weekend. Finally! It feels nice to be at my machine again after the move even though my Consew is still acting up and dripping oil.  So Friday I grabbed a few of my Japanese bag books and decided to give one a try.  I picked out this cute pattern with the hopes of making a cute bucket-type bag to take to the pool this summer. With minimal translation and use of the excellent pictures, I was able to create this adorable bag. I am happy with the results and plan on making a few more.

Both interior and exterior fabrics are from Hancock Fabrics, although I was not able to identify what manufacturer it is. It is an indoor-outdoor fabric, so it has a stiffness to it that will hold the shape well. I left the interior (grass green) unlined because of the stiffness and lightly lined the exterior with my go-to interfacing Pellon 931TD. So the thickness is there, but the Pellon gives it a slight umph to it.  I top-stitched all exterior seams with a matching green thread and added a pale cream twill ribbon to use as a closure.  The original pattern did not use any sort of closure.  I also kept the interior pockets out, but the pattern has a piece for you to add pockets on the interior or exterior.

I would say this is a beginner bag. The handles might pose a challenge for the beginner sewist, but not too much.  If you would like to see the book I used to make this bag check out:

Pomadour 64 (Ebay)                                     

She also has an account on Etsy, but I’ve ordered from her several  times and her service is great.  Don’t be afraid to dip into the world of foreign handbag design. As I have mentioned before Google Translate can be helpful, but the pictures are wonderful and will guide you along.

Now that I’m back in the saddle so to speak, I am going to be working on my Etsy shop and my handbag line. So I see lots of pattern tweaking and samples in my future.  Have a great day! Cindy