Custom Cases in Black and White: Lips and Hips-ter Bags

I'm still catching up on sharing projects from last year, 2013 and earlier. The items included in this post have a common color theme of black and white, plus using 'lips' and 'hips' in the title made me smile.

Black and White Lips Shaped Wristlets

In February 2012, I posted a blog entry about various Valentine's Day additions to my ArtFire shop, including some lips-shaped coin purses and wristlets. Since that time, Embroidery Garden released an updated set of the machine embroidery designs for her lips zipper cases, with four sizes and no raw edges showing on the inside linings. 

Last March 2014, a friend asked me to make one of the wristlet sized lips cases using black and white musical notes fabric. I don't recall which size case she requested - it was either the small or medium wristlet.

Whichever size she wanted, I made the other one! When I realized my mistake, there was just enough of the fabric left to make the correct size, so she ended up with two matching wristlets. She also asked that the wrist strap be modified so that it is permanently attached but can be easily and securely fastened around the straps of her purse or tote bag. 

To accomplish this, I added a small d-ring on a fabric tab near the base of the strap during the in-the-hoop construction of the wristlet. After it was finished, a lobster clasp swivel snap hook was stitched onto the end of the strap and a small rivet added for reinforcement.

I like the way the lips cases look in black and white - they don't have to be just red or pink and they're not just for Valentine's Day!


Black and White Hipster Bag

In April 2014, I was a vendor at a small local craft fair hosted by Autism Speaks at the American Legion in Rochelle Park, NJ. One of the visitors loved the fabric on my black and white owl zipper case (described in this blog entry from 2013), but she wanted a shoulder strap and wasn't really interested in the owl design. She also admired the style of the Fab Feline Hipster Bag (see below) but preferred a bag almost as big as the owl case.

The solution was a custom-sized, large hipster-style bag with an adjustable shoulder strap.

To make the bag, I installed the zipper using just the necessary steps from the in-the-hoop machine embroider design for the large owl zipper case by Embroidery Garden. After the zipper was stitched in place, I removed the front of the bag from the embroidery hoop and finished constructing the bag on my sewing machine.

 

The bag was lined with a coordinating black print fabric and I added a slip pocket to the back. She loved it!

 

More Hipster Bags

The Fab Feline Hipster bag mentioned above, was made in the summer of 2013 in preparation for RBARI's 35th Anniversary at the Shelter, using the larger size in Embroidery Garden's Hipster Purse set.

The main part of the purse was made with cute kitty cats in various colors on a black background. The shoulder strap fabric had a coordinating paw print design and it was long enough to wear over the shoulder or across the body. The bag is just the right size to carry a wallet, phone, keys and a few other essentials.

A few weeks later, I made a similar hipster bag using black and white scottie dogs on red:

Both hipster bags have been sold. I don't have any new hipsters currently listed in my shop, but would happily make more upon request!

edited:
Nov-18-2018 Replace SewAmazin Flickr photos, uploaded to Google/Blogger; edit old links

Jul-26-2020 Edit main photo