I wanted to turn this IKEA cushion cover into a bag ever since I bought it in February. But it took me a while (obviously) to decide what kind of bag! I finally decided on using the Belted Tote Bag pattern from Michelle Patterns. I love the shape of that bag. I even used this pattern to make an example for Stitched Blooms. You can find the pattern as part of the retired patterns on michellepatterns.com.
I enlarged the pattern slightly because I wanted to have room for all the random things I seem to carry around with me. I especially wanted to make sure there would be room for a magazine or my sketchbook. I rarely go anywhere without my sketchbook. :-)
The belt and the lining is made from Kona cotton (Windsor colour). To be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure that I would like the combination of this particular blue with the salmon-y colour of the cushion cover, but I think it turned out quite nice.
The photos don’t show the colours properly – I guess the camera got confused by the red-ish/blue combination. After I took the photos I added some snaps to be able to sort of close the bag. I don’t like being on the Tube or whatever and have an open bag. I was going to add a recessed zip but unfortunately I ran out of the blue fabric. D’oh! But luckily I had snaps in white and they make a perfectly good substitution. ;-)
Next time I make one of these bags I’m going to make sure I buy enough fabric so I can add the zip!