Molly Handbag Dressed in Leather

I have a good friend that loves to sew as much as I do. We work together in our day jobs and whenever we talk during the day it's always about sewing, decorating our houses, and kittys. But sewing is always top of the list. She was the person who inspired me to start sewing again, so anyone who reads this blog, buys one of my items on Etsy, or downloads one of my patterns, has her to thank.

When I finished the Molly Handbag Pattern, I showed it to her. I didn't really want to bother her by asking her to critique or test it, but she seemed interested in seeing it, so I gave her a copy. Immediately she gave me ideas that will make it and all my future patterns better. Her first suggestion was to include a cover with a photo of the finished product so that immediately the person using it would know what they were making. I already knew that I was going to design a cover to use for advertising it but didn't even consider adding it to the pattern PDF file. It was a great suggestion, so now it's added as part of the PDF.

Her other suggestion was to move the print to the right just a bit so if someone wanted to put it in a binder, they wouldn't punch holes in the pictures and text. Another great suggestion, but it was too late for Molly, it would just take too long to redo the layout. But I will definitely incorporate a left-side binding margin in my next pattern.

After her initial look at the pattern, she started thinking about making one. She's a very creative person and has tons of ideas for enhancing the basic pattern. She's thinking about using leather handles, leather corners, and making the coordinating top band out of leather. What a fabulous make-over for Molly! I think adding a strip of leather piping just under the ruffle would be beautiful as well.

I was already considering making the entire handbag in leather but I think my friend's ideas would make Molly even prettier than if she were done in all leather. I've never sewn with leather and I have a lot to learn. Wrapping the corners in leather has me baffled right now as I haven't sat down to figure it out. Maybe my good friend will teach me how to do that. I really hope she goes forward with her ideas, and maybe, just maybe, she will let me post a photo when it's done. We'll see and I'll let you know.

Till later ~

Reba