Inspiration Challenge 2

This was the inspiration photo and color palette for this week's challenge from

My Life Under The Bus.

Isn't that just the cutest picture?  And the colors are just gorgeous!  This is what I wrote down as

I looked at the picture:

Halloween

Little girl

Cutesy scary

Keyhole

Pumpkin

Blues

There wasn't anything in my stash that inspired me so I headed for the fabric store.  I was really

drawn to the blues in the palette but I just didn't see any fabric that excited me.  I began focusing on the pumpkin color of the keyhole and before I knew it, I had a fat quarter bundle in my hand that was the closest I could come to the palette.  Not what I really had in mind but it would have to do.

Next step was deciding what to make.  I drew a blank here until

the last minute!  I found instructions for a bag that looked interesting and went with it.  After reading through the instructions and getting the general idea, I got started and made it my own.

First I cut a piece of muslin as the base and then tore one inch strips from each of the fat quarters.

I sewed the strips to the muslin and then added additional fabric strips, old and new lace pieces and vintage buttons.  I had fun going through the buttons and finding the different browns and oranges.  I actually found come really cool buttons I didn't know I had!

I sewed up the sides and added the lining.  The instructions called for cording for the strap, which I went and bought later, after I bought the fabric.  Guess what?...it didn't work with the fabric at all!  I didn't want to spend any more money so I decided to cut more strips, sew them end to end and cover the cording.  The nice thing about it was, I could make the seam on the outside and it was okay because of the frayed seams on the bag!

I wanted to do something with the keyhole but I was just drawing a blank.  So I used orange thread for all the stitching since it was going to show.  In the end, I am pleased with how this bag turned out.  This one won't go in the shop but with some tweaking, I might make one that is shop worthy!  The best thing about these challenges is that I'm learning about my personal creative process.  And I've enjoyed it...that's something!!

Have a wonderful weekend!!!