"The Two of Us" is a little carry bag stitchery design by one of my favourite Australian Designers - Rosalie Quinlan. The original pattern is designed to be a child's bag measuring in at just 25cm (10").
When I showed the kit to my Mum she immediately tried to claim it for herself so I made her a deal that she couldn't resist - if I could hand sew the embroidered section and supply her with some pretty fabrics, then she could make it into a handbag and keep it for herself. My Mum no longer hand sews (her eyesight is slowly deteriorating with age), but as a former dressmaker and a handbag addict she has recently started to make handbags.
It didn't take me too long to finish stitching the small panel - I often tend to hand stitch on my down days or at night when I am watching TV. I found some Tanya Whelan fabrics in my stash that seemed to go well with the design so I gave these to Mum.
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| Stitching requires chocolate! ;0) |
Some weeks later I happened to be at her house and caught her just as she was about to machine stitch the embroidered panel onto a larger backing fabric. Both came back home with me so that I could chain-stitch around the join instead as stitching this by machine would have looked oh so wrong!
A week later Mum proudly showed me the finished bag.. she has added a few internal pockets to it as well.
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| Front View |
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| Back View |
The fabric used is Tanya Whelan's "Valentine Rose".
