The New Carpet Bag. A Tutorial!

So you may recall when I went to the VNA Rummage Sale. I scored a *ton* of so-called "dry goods" aka assorted fabric housewares stuff. Included among my finds were a pair of pillow shams. (At first they looked like placemats, but indeed, they're shams...)



They are kind of an asian-inspired floral on one side and a nifty little geometric print on the other.
And they're from France!

So I decided I wanted to do something with these items and I figured you can never have too many bags. I hit up Jo-Ann and got (a) wooden bag handles, (b) coordinating thread, (c) some coordinating fabric (to affix the handles) and (d) some nifty buttons.

Since the shams have this great piping around the edge I decided that I would sew them together wrong-side to wrong side. But I also wanted to show off the geometric print, so I decided to fold down a portion of the back side of each sham.


I then made little straps out of this polka dot fabric and sewed the straps onto the top of the bag, as a way to attach the wooden handles.

Next it was time to get decorative!

I hand-sewed the buttons on either side of the flaps.


Viola! One handy-dandy Pillow Sham purse.