The Monaco Bag ( giveaway too )

For those of you who have been around awhile, you know that when I started in the handmade business I made tote bags and small purses. So you can imagine my excitement when Hawthorne Threads asked me to put together one of the new Art Gallery purse kits to see how I liked it.

This kit was beautifully packaged in it's own little tote, with ribbons, and instantly made me drool at the site of it. Everything I needed (minus the interfacing) was in the package ready for me to start working.

This was not only a time saver, but a money saver as well. There was no driving all around town looking for the specific items that the pattern requested.

The bag I assembled was the Monaco Bag in option kandesh. I loved the colors and the style, not to mention to be completely honest it looked hard to make, and I wanted a challenge.

Now I do not consider myself to be a novice bag maker by any means, in fact I believe amateur is the right word for my bag making skills. I can whip up a tote or something simple with a pattern, but when to much hardware is involved I cringe  a little.

After reading the directions 4 or 5 times, I began cutting into my beautiful included fabrics. The pattern book gave a step by step guide to each and every detail of the bag with diagrams included. Each piece wa individually assembled and put aside for bag completion and everything was clearly labeled and named to find my way around the pattern easily.

 I will be completely honest by letting you know that this bag took me awhileto make with other distractions going on around the house, and I would recommend that you go through the pattern once with fabric that you are ok living without (minus the hardware) I say this because I didn't do that! Now that I have made the bag, I love it but there are a few things I would have tackled a little differently to make the process a little smoother.

For instance:: when it says use a heavy interfacing, don't pick a medium weight cause you already have it close by. :)

The pattern though is very forgiving, and there is more then enough fabric to finish the project and have quite a bit left over, maybe even enough to do a second bag. The pattern also give you details on how to cut your pattern pieces so that you have very little waste.

The completion of the bag was like my own little victory. What seemed to be quite the challenge when I saw it at first glance, turned out to be just the thing I needed. I love switching up my projects and this one did not let me down at all.

For you sewers out there who are like me, worried about failure, turning away from what looks like a difficult project to avoid the stress. :) (yeah I do that ) Try one of these Art Gallery premade kits. You will be amazed how super easy it is, and it will give you the courage to try other projects that you may have put off before. Even if your not into bags, or not a sewer, but know someone who is. This kit is the perfect gift. I am so glad that this was easy and that the end result was perfection. Now I have a new courage in my sewing adventures, as well as a new trendy bag!

Here are some more photos of the finished bag (since I know you all love pictures)  :) Enjoy!

See GIVEAWAY details below......

Now you want to make one huh! Try it, you will love it. Not to mention there are so many styles of bags, that one is bound to fit your very own personality. Hawthorne Threads will even make the idea of making this bag just a little sweeter by giving away a kit to Three Lucky sewers.

Check out the GIVEAWAY details here

So what bag do you want to make?

Thank you Art Gallery, and thank you Hawthorne Threads.

I would love to see photos of your Art Gallery kit bags!