Apple Handbag

My first project of the year 2019 is this Apple Handbag. All the materials used were purchased at flea markets, thrift stores or yard sales...except for the pretty wooden buttons which I bought online on "wish"....and they were super cheap! It was finding the fantastic black check acrylic handles that propelled me to finally make this bag.

To begin, I cut two pieces of canvas and two pieces of lining fabric into 15"x18" rectangles.

The apple needlepoint was in a frame (50 cents). I took the needlepoint out of the frame and cleaned it. I wanted to use trim on the needlepoint to cover the rough edges and to give me something easier to stitch to yellow chevron canvas.Would you just look at this fruit embroidered trim and the yellow striped grosgrain ribbon! Yes, these things were in my stash. I sewed the trims together to create a wider trim.

Next, I stitched the trim to the needlepoint.

I positioned the needlepoint panel onto the canvas fabric and used some fabric glue to tack it down. I used a bar-tack to stitch the piece to the canvas. I clipped the threads between the bar tacks.

I stacked the wooden button on top of a big clear plastic button and stitched them over the corners of the needlepoint panel. The wooden button was right for the design but it wasn't big enough. I love the added novelty of stacking buttons.

In my next post, I'll show how to finish the bag.