For this Iron Craft Challenge, Susi asked us to create something inspired by something we’d seen in a catalog, store or online that we didn’t buy, because we could make it. I had pinned a purse from Fossil called the Penelope Tote awhile back with a note saying “we could totally make something like this.” So, I did.
It’s not an exact copy, it’s more of an inspired by. I wanted a smaller bag and didn’t care for the brown straps. I ran into a few problems along the way. I wanted to use leather, vinyl or suede for the squares, but couldn’t find any of those in multiple colors (if I could find them at all). I ended up using felt which was a good choice as there were lots of colors and it was easy to sew on.
The second problem was finding good straps. There was really nothing at Jo Ann’s that would work. There were lots of choices on Etsy, but most had to be shipped from Hong Kong or Korea. I couldn’t even find leather trim I could make into my own straps. The solution came while looking for 80’s costumes at HMV, skinny belts!
I’m very happy with how this bag turned out. By the way this canvas Fossil bag cost $138! Mone was much less. Jenny over at A Mom and 2 Things liked the inspiration bag so much that she made one too. Here’s is a little truer in size than mine & I love the pink she used. Tomorrow we’ll give you all the details to make your own.
© 2005 – 2012 Kathy Lewinski & Susan Cornish
Very cool. Mine was much cheaper than buying the original too, and would have been even cheaper if I was one of the people who always has things like modge podge around!