Book Bag

I'm pretty sure I'm behind on the whole bags from books thing, but I finally got round to making one. I've been looking at them on the internets for a couple of years now, thinking, "I could make one of those. I'm crafty enough. I haz teh skillz". Turns out, I do!

I couldn't find a tutorial anywhere, so I looked at as many photos from as many different angles as I could, so that I could try to work it out in my head. I almost went so far as to write myself a little step by step, but in the end I though "Bah, lets just wing it"

I kinda wish I'd got photos of the book before hand, it was a nice copy of Little Women, by Lousie May Alcott. It didn't have a date in it, but I Googled the publishing house and managed to decided it was pre 1960's, but I don't feel to bad about cutting it up. It was complete, and had some really nice plates in it which might get reused, but honestly, it was bought specifically for the purpose, was nice and cheap, so I don't feel bad.

Front

I did reinforce the spine with some scrap mount board from the Sister, as it was quite weak, but other than that, the cover was in lovely nick.

Sides

The sides I made from calico, in an attempt to make them look like book pages, but it's not really worked. You can also see on the bottom left corner where it hasn't stuck properly.

Back

The closure was made from a large button, and some elastic. I'm REALLY not happy with it. Originally I wanted to use a zip, then realised that it wouldn't really be practical, so this was the best I could come up with. I'll defiantly be rethinking this next time.

Bah

The lining has Mr Men and Little Misses on it, because where you get Little Women Misses, you get Mr Men, right?

I knew that fabric would come in handy at some point!

The handles were some that I got free with a magazine months back that never got used, but came in handy for this. I have to say, while it's not come out perfectly, it does the job, and I am really impressed with it.