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This is a project that I started and completed a few months ago. I took an old cosmetic bag I had that was falling apart, took the seams out, traced the original fabric, and transferred the pattern onto "new" fabric (the khaki on the exterior is from an old pair of pants).


I used gray and green Amy Butler fabric on the inside and for the exterior strips, and used pink binding tape to hide the zipper's edges.


The zipper is the one from the original bag. I also sewed a "svea" tag to the exterior.

Though I can't figure out why, this bag, which should have been a quick and easy sew, took me forever. I started it a few months ago, got frustrated and put it aside, and finally got around to finishing it last week, after our move. The pattern is from BurdaStyle, and it's the ubiquitous Charlie bag.


I used some fabric I had lying around and ended up piecing two fabrics together for the outer shell, so that I'd have enough. It's lined (which I was able to do thanks to the second of two tutorials I found on BurdaStyle). I included an inner pocket and a "svea" tag.

I'm going to start posting some of the projects I've been working on in the past few months. Tonight I'll start off with a desk I purchased a few months ago. I'd been looking for a desk for awhile, but hadn't had much luck finding anything that was the right size and price, or made from something besides reinforced cardboard. So I was pretty excited to find what I wanted during an afternoon visit to Goodwill. The desk is made from sturdy wood, and has lots of internal storage. The price? A very nice $25.

Before (note the knob missing from the bottom drawer on the left):


After (the black metal knobs are from Home Depot):


Before (note the chipping on the corner; a hunk was also missing from a top corner, but I filled it in with wood filler):


After (check out the desk's gorgeous detailing):


Overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, thought the paint is still a bit sticky, which makes worry I didn't give it enough time to dry in between coats (or it could be an effect of this darn Texas weather...).

Here's what I'm hoping to check out this weekend while I'm in California: