Soulmate Blooms Boho Bag : :

On the last day before Christmas break I needed to make and photograph one last bag for my Love Story LookBook and I'm so happy with what I made!

I wrote last week how my skills and love for bag making has grown over the past year, but it's still fairly limited to simple and quick patterns. For this bag sample I wanted to stretch myself a bit, but because I was so limited on time, it still needed to be a quick-sew project. There wasn't much time to look for boho bag inspiration on Pinterest and definitely not enough to order a new pattern to follow. So, I looked through the bag samples that I have on display in my studio and these Wild & Free bags by Sarah Markos were the perfect shape & style and seemed simple enough for me to try!



To make this pair of Wild & Free bags for my Quilt Market booth, I purchased the Beautiful Belle Handbag pattern by Amy Butler to send Sarah, along with the fabrics. Since I had previously purchased the pattern myself I felt okay using the bags Sarah had made to be my guide, since I didn't have access to the pattern myself. Of course, my bags aren't exact Beautiful Belle bags, but the shape of both the body and handles are a pretty close match for those of you wanting to make something similar!



Rather than using all quilting cottons or my Love Story canvas, I had to use my Soulmate Blooms Passion knit for this bag! This red if SO pretty and since I don't make garments YET, I'll be using this print to make a variety of bags in the weeks ahead.



Most of the bag exterior is made in knit but for the center panel of both the front and the back I pieced together a striping of quilting cotton prints for one side and a patchwork for the reverse.



The details on the front get a little lost in the photos, but if you look close you can see that I added a little pleating, piping and gathering detail, as well. I think the addition of the red pompoms might just be my favorite extra embellishment of all! Experimenting with fun details and techniques is really what makes bag making so much fun for me!





I hope you love this bag as much as I do!

xo Maureen