A while ago I was approached by the lovely Jodi over at Sew Fine Fabric approached me to see if I’d like to make something to show off the fabulous fabric in her Etsy shop.  Hmm, let me see, make whatever I like out of gorgeous fabric, tough decision…

Anyway, there was a little PO conspiracy between USPS and Royal Mail shortly after this, where they merrily batted that little parcel round the world about 3 times I reckon, since it was over a month later that it finally showed up at my office the day after I went on leave for the Commonwealths.  Consequently it was another 11 days before I was united with the fabric, and then there’s been a lot of running round the country, oh yeah, and that pesky day job again, ever since.  This bank holiday weekend though was the ideal time to take it out and play.

My first challenge had been choosing the fabrics for my project.  There’s a great range of fabrics in a variety of types and weights, including a lovely selection of organics which I homed in on.  Eventually I decided on some Organic Full Circle in Robin’s Egg from Shape of Spring by Eloise Renouf for Cloud 9 Fabrics and some Organic “Bird Blossom” in Dark from the Eiko Collection from Birch Fabric (which is unfortunately sold out right now).

Now you should never underestimate the power of good packaging, because the way this fabric arrived completely changed my plans on what to do with it:

Do you see that lovely yellow chevron ribbon there?  Well I became obsessed with somehow trying to include something like that in my project.  I searched through my bag making stash – nada.  Then through my larger cuts for quilting – niet.  Finally, with an air of desperation, through my FQ collection, and miraculously came up with the perfect yellow, complete with chevrons!  Alas, because I got in in my colour club collection from Pink Castle a couple of years ago, and I got the side without the info on the selvedge, I have absolutely no idea what it is, but it goes well, no?

I made a fairly simple messenger, where the flap tucks into the band to hold it closed and there’s a welt pocket in the lining, but I did try a new technique for the strap, using a buckle and eyelets to make it adjustable, and I think that worked rather well:

Thanks Jodi for the opportunity to play with this gorgeous fabric, and sorry it took so long to become a reality!

The rest of you, you really need to head over and check out the Sew Fine Fabric stock, with quilting cottons, home decor weight and knits, oh my!  In addition to the fabricy goodness, Jodi also stocks thread, Divine Twine and a nice selection of washi tape.  As a bonus, if you’re in the US, shipping is flat rate at $2.50 while for the Canadians it’s $4.50.  The rest of you will have to stuff envelopes as always ;o)