My BSF Debra and I got together to make handbags, and what fun we had!  Inspiration for these bags came from multiple sources and came together for a couple of cool purses…at least we think they are cool! My small bag features my cat Ichi who is a walking piece of graphic design. I copied the photo onto cotton ink jet prepared fabric. Debra custom designed her interior to hold files, an iPad and a water bottle with all the other typical purse needs.While she designed it to take on vacation is using it every day, and it’s fantastic!

Inspiration and direction came from many people and materials. First, Mary Glenn gave a class on easy handbag construction at DOL in Ashland and made it look so easy. Honestly she really came up with an efficient way to construct a purse. She has a blog entry for instructions: http://inspiredsewing.wordpress.com/2014/01/22/making-colorful-handbags/

The second inspiration came from Diane Ericson and her  plumbing supply line discovery. We both used the woven stainless steel for our purse handles.

The third inspiration was the fabric that Debra found at a local thrift store. It feels and looks like leather and she found a couple of yards of this stuff for $4.00!

Last, but not least, my new metalsmithing skills came to use attaching the straps to the bags…

and make the mouse dangling from my cat Ichi.