HANDMADE COUTURE: Make this look - A Blanket Bag Style Shoulder Bag

7/06/2017 10:15:00 AM



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Are you or someone you love a designer handbag enthusiast? Do you sometimes find yourself staring at bags you see in magazines, or even on someone's shoulder in the grocery store wondering how to recreate that bag? Then the Handmade Couture series is for you. We pick a designer bag and tell you how to recreate it using available sewing patterns, materials and hardware.  You can have the same look, but make it totally "you" and for a fraction of the cost. When you sew your own bag you know exactly what is going into the bag and can add or modify features to suit your preferences. Today, we are going to show you how to recreate this Balenciaga Blanket Medium Floral Shoulder Bag:

The Balenciaga Blanket Square Medium Floral Shoulder Bag is a bold, stand out from the crowd bag in her vibrant floral leather exterior. She has grommet detailing for the handles with vivid orange accents. It has a double zipper that extends to the bottom of the bag and measures 12.6" H x 15.8" W x 5.7" D. You can own this gorgeous gal for the sale price of 1497 USD.


Like the look of this?  Lets be our own brand.
Pattern + Hardware + Fabric= Handmade Couture


Pattern:





The Sew Sweetness Amethyst Project Bag is a great match for our inspiration bag. With a few mods we can easily turn this smart project bag into our shoulder bag.




Like our inspiration bag, the Amethyst has a double zip that extends to the bottom of the bag. The shape is identical at 14" L x 13" H x 3" D is a very similar size. The Amethyst was designed for makers on the go and with a bit of creativity, some piping and a bit of hardware, will be a fab shoulder bag.


Hardware:




To recreate our inspiration bag we will need to add an adjustable shoulder strap. Attach some D-rings to your bag to attach the side strap to.


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One inch adjustable slider to make the adjustable strap

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Two 1” Swivel hooks for the ends of our strap.


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One pack of 7/16” Grommets in gold to use to attach our handles to the front and back of the bag. If you prefer you can always use screw on grommets to recreate the look:


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Add some bling to your zips with Emmaline’s gold metal pulls:


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Fabric:

Floral leather exists but is difficult to come by for most of us that sew at home. Our friends at the Tannery NYC occasionally have such items available in very limited quantities, like this fun print:

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An alternative to floral leather, would be to recreate the vivid look of the Balenciaga by mixing a bold floral like this Art Gallery Print:




and add leather for the piping and accents like this bright orange leather from The Tannery NYC:



If leather isn't something that you aren't comfortable using, you can find a faux leather that would work well for the same look of our inspiration bag, like this faux leather:





Another great option is natural cork fabric, which is available from MM Cork Supply in Canada or from Sew Sweetness in the US.  You can get cork in a various colors and finishes, like this orange cork:



You can choose to do this in whatever fabric you are comfortable working with! A fun cotton print, canvas or even denim!  That's the benefit of creating your own, it's what YOU want it to be. Handmade can be couture too!
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Photos and content provided and written for Emmaline Bags by Cyndi Farfsing, from The Nosy Pepper. Cyndi's blog is chock is full of more bag photos and make making tips. Check out her bag series "It's in the Bag! Better Bag Making Series," to learn a ton of new bag making skills.


Share your projects made from Emmaline patterns and/or with Emmaline hardware in our facebook group Emmaline Sewing Patterns Group, or on instagram with the hashtags #emmalinehardware, #emmalinepatterns, #emmalinebags, or tag us @emmalinebags.


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A Note

The contents of this blog, including text, original photos and ideas are the sole property of the author. If you intend to use my text or images, please link back to this blog and give credit to Emmaline Bags & Patterns. A notification email would be greatly appreciated too! Please do not ever republish an entire post, any tutorials, or post photos of my family. Thank you, Janelle