Amy Butler Bag

I made this bag for an online contest given by Amy Butler. The rules were to make a bag that was inspired by Amy Butler Designs. I was so proud of this bag. I designed the pattern myself. The concept of the quilting and binding construction I saw in the book 21 Sensational Patchwork Bagsby Susan Briscoe. This definitely made putting it together easier (note I did not say easy). I took a sheet of paper and made myself a model of how the clutch would fold. Then drew my marking lines on it. Started playing with the fabrics - so much fun to play with all those luscious patterns! There were a few mishaps and miscalculations, but overall I had a blast making this bag.

I woke up one morning thinking about how I was going to make a handle for this bag and came up with the idea to make it convertible from a wristlet to a strap. My friend Elizabeth and I were completely obsessed checking the site daily for new entries. To our disappointment, neither of us won. My fatal flaw was not taking into account that Amy loves oversized bags. Oh well, I love my little bag and it was great fun to see so many fantastic bags, ideas, and inspirations in the hundreds of entries.