Re-Styled: Miranda-ized Butterick B4409 Westie Bag

In September, I finished the first rendition of this Butterick B4409 Westie Bag:

This is View C, modified to make it smaller in width by 3 inches and by height by 2 inches. The strap was recycled from a blue faux leather belt that I never wore. Although I liked the size and shape of this bag, there were a few problems. 

First, the strap wasn't very comfortable on my shoulder. After a couple of months, the eyelet/snap closures I used to fasten the strap to the purse swivel clips came loose. I replaced it "temporarily" with a removable shoulder strap from an old purse I never use anymore, but that was too long, so I looped it back and forth through the rings to shorten it. That worked, but was not a satisfactory solution.

Next, the tabs holding the rings started to loosen up. And then the lining (which was hand stitched in place) started to get caught up in the zipper. In fact, the zipper itself bothered me, I think because the curve at the top of the bag was too "sharp"; when I adjusted the bag width I should have smoothed it to a more gentle curve. When the lining started to come loose, the zipper tapes were exposed and started to interfere with closing the bag.

In frustration I unpacked all my "stuff" and reviewed the situation -- I could either repair and replace the offending parts or somehow strip it down and re-style this bag. The sewing instructions, although clear enough, never really solved the assembly problems I had during the original construction of the bag (such as stitching through multiple layers of fabric). 

So I opted to remodel it, in the style of a Lazy Girl Designs Miranda Day Bag. I made a pair of scaled down Miranda's in August which were similar in size to the base of this Westie bag, so I used those measurements to "cut and paste" it back together.

First, I removed the lining and zipper. Thank goodness for a good light and seam ripper! With the outside separated from the lining, I measured carefully and cut straight across the top of the outer cover. Then I repeated the process with the lining, but I added about an inch to the top, for the faux binding.

Next, to give the bag more body (which was lacking in the first rendition), I fused pieces of Decor Bond interfacing to both the lining and cover, trimmed slightly smaller than the actual pieces so that it would not be in the way of the seams.

To re-assemble the bag, I ripped out part of the side seam of the lining to make an opening for turning, then pinned the cover and lining with right sides together and re-sewed the lining to the cover. It was a little tricky turning this right side out again, especially with the added interfacing, so lots of pressing with the iron was needed afterwards to smooth out the wrinkles.

The rest of the re-construction was pretty much the same as any other Miranda -- topstitched the faux binding, added shoulder straps and a tab closure and ta da - a new and improved Miranda-ized Westie bag!

Except that I forgot to insert the magnetic closure before sewing the tab pieces together, so I had to come up with some way to disguise the back of the clasp. 

The solution: a fabric yo-yo embellished with a hand painted ceramic Westie button. Isn't it cool how well this button matches the Westies embroidered on the denim? What a happy accident. I've had this button for probably 10 years or so -- bought several of them from Mill Hill (White Scottie Dogs, item numbers MH86220 & MH86221) for some needlework project that I never got around to. Hopefully it will not fall off and when I'm done with this bag, I'll reclaim it and use it again for some future project. 

Although my original vision for this bag was a completely different style, this version works much better for my needs.

updated: Sep-22-2022 edited photos and removed broken links