Bag re-makeover

Hello Lovelies ,
 As some of you may recall ,one of my small projects earlier this year , before the blanket bug bit me again, was to makeover a simple thrifted denim shoulder bag. I added felt owl and used some floral fabric to line the flap(as I had to remove the original lining to attach the owl). I also added some pompoms for a bit of fun. You can read about it here. But here is what the finished project looked like back in March.....

Oh , how I love this bag .It's just the right size for all my stuff. Not so big you end up carrying around loads of junk and it's easy to find things.I'm a big fan of across the body bags, great to keep your hands free.
This little bag has been so well used it was starting to look a bit shabby. My owl was made of acrylic felt which did not wear well....

Not terrible but this was the main problem......

The magnetic clasp I bought is so magnetic you really have to pull hard to separate the two parts and this was not good for the relatively lightweight lining fabric.Some repair work was needed .
While I was generally happy with my first makeover I always felt the lining fabric was too nice just to have inside so I decided to cover the out side of the flap in the same fabric.
It was relatively simple to do. I started by removing the torn lining fabric then   and unpicking the owl ,sorry owl .I drew around the flap to make a paper template . Using this template I cut out some iron on interfacing ....

The interfacing stiffens up the drapy fabric to make it suitable for this project. Here it is ironed onto the fabric..

Next I cut out the fabric adding  a generous seam allowance,placed this over the outside of the flap and pinned in place( that's the inside of the denim ,not the interfacing you can see...you can also see the remnant of the original blue lining and you will notice I haven't neatened the edge of the fabric as it will be covered by the lining).......

I then hand sewed this to the flap through the seam allowance and denim only, so no stitches were visible from the outside.
Next I removed the clasp from the original lining fabric and attached a denim patch for extra strength. ,before hand sewing the lining back in place.....

The denim could really have done with being darker but I couldn't find any at the time and wanted to get my bag back in use ASAP.Can you see why I wanted this fabric on the outside too...it's just so pretty and as I've had it in my stash since the 80's it's practically vintage .

The one day I had to use a subsitue I really missed it's practical ways :0)
So here is my humble bag with added floral goodness.....

That's better , but maybe more flowers would look even prettier? What about a little crochet and some buttons ? ....

YES ....I love  how it's turned out .
Last time I added pompoms to dangle on the side but they eventually got pulled off...so this time I'm trying beads.....

These beads are also thrifted ...from necklaces and bracelets I've picked up for pennies to build up a stash.

As you can see from the back ,the flap is the only floral part , but I love the combination of the fabrics ......

Here I'm modeling it in the garden , I'm so glad my favourite bag was salvageable .

It goes well with my cut off jeans , which are on their last legs but I'm doing my best to keep them going too :0).....

So what do you think to my no spend makeover?
The boys preferred the owl but like the beads. I like both but I think I prefer the prettiness of this version over the cuteness of the owl .


Hope you all have a great day. I'm off work this week and it's great being at home with the boys. We have bought uniform but still have school shoes to get...not today though....going to the park to meet up with my Anti natal mums...don't see them often and it will be great to catch up , though they don't get my crafty ways like you lovelies do :0)
Jacquie x

P.S. thank you to all of you who have commented to my crochet toadstool...I'm hoping to publish the pattern when I get the time ...but it may be a few weeks.
I'm the mean while do check out Anaboos fab version ...with pattern and inhabitants ...love it:0)