And for my dear Mama...

Above is a tab made from some scrummy blue suede that I bought on my trip to London specifically for...making a tab with! The tab is a small part of the bag that I made for my mother's Christmas gift. I hunted high and low for some minky coloured suiting for the main body of the bag as so much of her wardrobe is in lovely muted shades of brown...and eventually I found it at the top of a very high tower of fabric bolts in Borovick's on Berwick Street. I have lined it with blue silk and then, because my mother is all about the detail, I edged the pockets that will hold her mobile phone and purse with brown velvet.

This was my first bag snap...very satisfying to install...but I did feel a little nervous as I cut the required hole in my material, but it was fine! It has an incredibly strong magnet...perhaps a little too strong. I think next time I may try and purchase something that will keep one's arm muscles in proportion with the rest of one's body.

Here it is in full (above)...it appears to be gaping...but that's just the way I positioned it (easy to do as my mother likes her bags with a very heavyweight interlining to accommodate the enormous array of items that make up her survival kit - who else carries a karabina in their bag?...and she is very much a city sort of girl, just in case you were thinking that this may be justifiable, had she a penchant for rock-climbing/camping - as well as the small library she likes to carry around under her arm). And here she is modelling it for me....

I have piped around the bottom to give some more shape...and space. And when you get a bit closer you can see that, as I did last time when I made this style of bag, I've done contrast stitching on the outside that matches the lining on the inside. Thankfully the lining is much more subtle than my previous disaster (when the lining was too coarse, too lurid and just generally too hideous to be viewed by human eyes without the aid of sunglasses...whatever possessed me!).

Anyway, I'm so sorry to show you this bag from every conceivable angle, but there's something about making a bag that makes me feel ridiculously proud when it's finally finished. It puzzles me how Lisa and Jo are able to pop out dreamy bags almost daily without the need take to their beds for an entire week after each one....on this basis my children have a lot to be thankful for that I only attempt a bag about every two months...).