FOs: I *heart* Beach Bag & Queen of Hearts clutch

Oh dear oh dear...
I have been a bit bad with the ol' posting recently! I was actually away on a wee holiday last week, so that's my excuse. I know, I know - I good blogger would have set up posts for the blog in advance...but I just didn't have time! Will you forgive me?!

Well, to make up for it I have not one, but TWO (yep, count them: 1...2!!) FOs to share with you in this post. The first I made a week or so before my holidays and the other literally the night before I left and both came with me to Porto Santo (small island near Madeira) so I was able to do a bit of a 'on-location' photo shoot for them both!

Hmmm...check out that dodgy modelling of the clutch - think I'll stick to my day job!

FO1: Queen of Hearts Clutch

So the first is a very cute little clutch. I pattern is the Curvy Clutch from Keyka Lou Patterns. I have been wanting to make a little clutch ever since I got my sewing machine back in Oct 09 but I couldn't find a pattern I really loved - until i saw this one. Only problem was I had to buy it (ha, so stingy of me hey!). But the other week I caved in a bought it - and I'm so glad I did as I love love LOVE my new clutch.

The fabric is a thick upholstery cotton from Ikea with a bold red and black interlocking heart design and white background. It's quite a large print but I knew the bag would go with almost everything I wear as I love red and black!

Two magnetic clasps to close and a little pocket inside.

This picture also shows a mini 'refashion' of the hat I took with me on hols. I bought this with a beige coloured ribbon and very pale pink flower attached around it which, altho cute, wasn't going to suit my holiday colour scheme. So I just whipped it off, attached a strip of black bias binding around the hat and then found a gorgeous red flower head band which I stretched around the hat as well. Was very happy with the end result. Speaking of refashions, the dress I'm wearing in the first picture is a wee bit of one too. I bought it from Primark (for those readers not from the UK or Ireland, Primark is a really REALLY cheap clothes shop that some how manages to churn out reams and reams of up-to-date fashion at really low prices. Altho it's so easy to go in there and spend £50 in one go, I am weaning myself off it due to ethical reasons...but that's a whole other story!), but it started life out as a halterneck dress with the elastic shirring at the waist. I didn't like the way it sat on my boobs and it was too long, so I just cut off the bust section and now I can either wear it as a dress with a belt on (as above) or on my hips as a long skirt!

FO2: I *Heart* Beach Bag

I still had a tonne of the heart fabric left over after making the clutch so I used it for my beach bag. And I am pleased to say that this is a 'Su Sews So-So' original! No pattern used, I just copied another similar size bag that I owned but made a few changes such as the straps going all the way down the side of the bag. The inside isn't lined but I bound all the seams with black bias binding and also put a strip around the top inside and top outside. This bag was a dream to use and came with me EVERYWHERE on holiday - I could fit so much into it!! I'm just so pleased with how it turned out - and I managed to make it in about an hour or so! I'm thinking about writing a wee tutorial for it so let me know if you would like it - it's very easy but sometimes it's nice to just see it done in pictures isn't it!

Well, you can't call it a beach bag if it doesn't get a trip to the beach!!!

I spent my holiday dreaming up my next projects so now that I'm back I can't wait to get cracking! I have so many things that I want to make I just don't know where to start!! I am severely behind in making things for SSS so I think I should probably focus on those items first. In my last post I mentioned that I would give away some of the patterns I got off Ebay, so I shall stay true to my word and that will be my next post - I hope you can check it out!