That Hideous Strength

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Disclaimer: I'm in a rambling mood ...
I love books and I love naming my bags after books, but some book names don't make the most flattering bag names! Hereafter, this bag shall be known as Strength. And for good reason, the thickness of this bag makes it nice and strong, and sewing through all that thickness required strength of character (particularly patience) on my part.

My grandmother's lovely fine turquoise corduroy makes up the body of this bag, but I backed it with a heavy wool felt from Mystery Pete. Never again. Let me repeat that with an exclamation mark: Never again! My sewing machine still isn't speaking to me. My husband says all that wool felt would make the bag handy for keeping your lunch warm!

The flap of the bag is made from pieces of purple velvet upholstery, plaid wool from my aunt's stash of kilts, some cotton prints, and a lovely piece of trim (a thrift store find).

The bag features my standard side pocket and two back pockets accented with a sweet purple button. My bag model today is Amanda, my always-helpful 10 year old daughter. She's also very ticklish and apparently adjusting a bag on a ticklish model is just asking TOO much.

The coolest part of this bag is it's STRAP! I used a thrift store belt to make the strap adjustable. Simply cinch it to the spot you want it and buckle as normal. Neat, eh? Underneath the light turquoise belt of fabulousness is some groovy tie-dye purple and turquoise fabric that I had to sew together piece by piece to get enough to make these straps. Sew worth it!

The bag is lined with a purple floral pillow case and features two inside pockets.

OK, now for a little confession. I have pretty high standards, but the thickness of this bag defeated me a bit. The last row of top-stitching is double-stitched for strength, but it got a tad bit unattractive. On the inside, I covered up the ugly bit with a pretty ribbon, hand-stitched in coordinating purple thread. It doesn't show too much on the outside. Just want to be honest up front. Would I still be seen in this bag? Absolutely!

Now for a BFZ debut... A video of yours truly demonstrating the adjustable belted strap. This is SO embarrassing. Quality is bad (hideous perhaps?), staging is bad, light is bad, script is bad (there was no script) - but my daughter and I had fun with it.



And if you're incredibly starved for bad entertainment - here's the outtakes ... oh the humiliation gets worse... Outtake 1 -- Outtake 2 -- Outtake 3

Bid on this bag by leaving your name and a bid in the comments section. Bidding starts at $25 and increases by whole $s please. Highest bidder at 8am (PDT) on Saturday, November 1st gets the BAG! Postage extra (from Abbotsford, BC). This bag was created by Jennie C.

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