Undesigner handbag transformation... adding a big pocket

Dear Sewing Friends and NeedleworkMonday!

This is a handmade bag that I created some years ago, but this week decided to add a big pocket to the front of.... The pocket was already created separately, and was waiting around to be sewn into the inside of the bag, which felt like it wouldn't work - so suddenly I realised that I could sew it onto the outside instead, thus creating not one but two pocket slots!

I began by cutting off the buttons on the sides: they were originally going to be for attaching the straps, but I sewed them directly into the body of the bag, and the buttons became just a nice decoration.

So I had four buttons to choose from, and decided on this one with a neat cross in the middle. I put it aside to begin with, but this is it above, at the finishing point.

It was a fiddle indeed to pin the pocket into the form of the bag... Sorry if I didn't document this very well; I often begin jobs spontaneously and do not think to photograph them until I'm a way into it...

I took the pins out several times, trying to fit the external pocket into the outside of the front of the bag...

And then it magically was obvious how to sew it all together in a way that wasn't too hard to get the needle through multiple layers!! Yey!! The bag material used to be a wee felted blanket that I'd had since around 2008, when I bought it in a scrap store in the Scottish Borders - this part of the Borders are famous for beautiful woven fabrics like tweed.

This sewing was incredibly satisfying, as every stitch was beautifully solid and joining the form really nicely. The thread colour was also very perfect - so nice when jobs like this go so well all the way through!

I spent the before and after Sunday lunch doing some more sewing into the base, taking advantage of first the cosy cafè, then my in-laws' heating, as these days are quite chilly. It's so good to sit quietly in company and sew away.

My in-laws often have the TV on loudly, but I love it when there is no TV!

This is me sewing the button-loop - the new pocket sat forward a bit much, and I wanted the extra new pocket that it also made - the pocket has a zip closure, but the space behind was a bit too open - to be close-able.

Here you can see the 'draft' finished product, but I decided after looking at it for a while, to cut off the fringe (as you can see at the top of this post; the spare pieces were donated to the cats' winter nest boxes).