The Hope Handbag: More Inspiration from our Testers!

Hi bagineers! We're loving seeing all your Hope Handbags in the Bag of the Month Club Facebook group, and on our Facebook and Instagram feeds! Please do keep tagging us - @sewingpatternsbymrsh, @bagofthemonthclub!

We've heard from some of you that you've too many choices for fabric, so aren't sure where to start. We understand that dilemma, so have put together another couple of compilations of some of the many, many gorgeous makes from our testers to, hopefully, inspire you!

A couple of our fab testers chose to use solid colour fabrics for their outer panels. Reece used a beautiful piece of chambray linen for this pretty sew:

And, Rebecca chose to use a piece of lush Harris Tweed! You'll only need half a yard of fabric for the exterior panels of The Hope Handbag, so it's a good choice of sew if you've a beautiful but not-so-budget-friendly option like Harris Tweed.

Or, why not choose a checkered print, like Laura? This fun fabric reminds us of picnics in the park, and we think The Hope Handbag would make a super little lunch bag!

Ditsy prints like Nancy's add a splash of fun to the Hope Handbag:

And, if you choose to use a non-directional print, like Peter, you can let your tigers roam freely! Isn't this Hope Handbag roarsome?

However, if you're using a repeated or symmetrical print, you may want to carefully line up your pattern pieces as you go, and fussy cut your print so it's centred, as Lynn did with this stunning sew. Lynn also used webbing for the handles!

Laura also fussy cut this fun map print, making the most of the fabric! If you're using a map fabric like Laura's, you could use badges or buttons to mark off the places you'd like to go, or the places you've already been!

However you decide to style your Hope Handbag, you don't need a lot of fabric, so it's a great choice for stashbusting, or for using just a small amount of your most special bits of stash. For the exterior, you'll need 1/2 a yard (0.4m) - we don't recommend using thicker fabrics like canvas or vinyl as they may be challenging to sew. For the lining, you'll need 3/4 yard (0.6m) of fabric, and you'll also need 36" x 10" (91 cm x 25 cm) of contrast fabric.

Need more help deciding? Why not pop your fabric ideas up in the Bag of the Month Club Facebook group and let us help you choose!