Sweet 16 Panel Bag

I made this Panel bag a couple of months ago for a friend of Hayley's 16th birthday. We both went to Ikea to have a look at their fabrics ... Hayley chose this for her friend and another fabric for me to make a bag for her ... and, of course, I had to choose a fabric for a bag for me too!

It felt a bit odd cutting and measuring your own fabric which was then weighed and priced but I guess that is all part of the self-serve Ikea experience. Actually, we did get a bit lost trying to find the fabric department which is exactly what Ikea hopes will happen, isn't it!! And I'm sure we're not the first people to suffer that fate.

Even though it may not look like it, the fabric required a bit of layout planning before cutting so that I had the birds/flowers/leaves exactly where I wanted them.

This is the third Panel bag from Nicole Mallalieu Design I've made and it came together easily, all due to Nikki's very clear, comprehensive pattern instructions.

I chose to make the pleated version, including both the zip pocket on one side and the compartment pocket on the other. The fabulously shiny 38mm square edged o-rings on the shoulder strap and 19mm magnetic catch really finish the bag off beautifully!

The nice, shiny and smooth satin lining ... mmmmm

It is a surprisingly roomy bag ... I'm currently using one as my handbag and it can hold loads of other people's stuff so you are never short for room which is great!

Hayley's friend loved the bag and was using it straight away so that made me a very happy girl!!

'New kid on the block'

Here she is … a glamorous little number that will definitely be accompanying me either out to dinner or to the ballet next time I go … or … most probably both!

I really enjoyed making this purse and testing the newest pattern from Nicole Mallalieu Design (which will be available very soon). This is the gathered overlay version with a rouleaux handle that has a little loop feature where it attaches to the purse frame.

The overlay fabric is from Rathdowne Fabrics … and is actually a remnant originally used for making men’s ties. And the lining was from Nikki's 'free to a good home' basket of goodies.

I used medium weight wadding for the purse body which gave it just the right structure so that it's able to either stand up on its own or still be soft enough to flatten out if that’s the shape you prefer.There's an option in the pattern to include a base too but with this fabric/wadding combination the purse didn't need it.

Pinning the purse to the frame helped to make sure the purse was centered and that it stayed there while I sewed on the seed beads (oh, and if I'm being completely honest ... I really just wanted to see what it was going to look like)!

If you would like the opportunity to win a copy of the pattern when it is released head on over to Nikki's You SEW, girl! blog.

Edited to add - It's official ... she's called the 200mm 'Glam' purse! and is available in a kit or pattern only from Nicole Mallalieu Design.