How To Cheer Up An Old Bag (No Not Me) with a Handbag Charm

After I made the bias binding last week, I had about 18 - 20"  of piped cord left over...  not enough to pipe around a cushion... but too much just to bin, so what to do with it?  I sat there twiddling it and started to make a flower shape, but really did I need another flower brooch... err no!  And then it came to me, a handbag charm and for this you will need:

20" of covered tape (use this tutorial)

12" of bias binding or ribbon

Scissors

Needle and Cotton

Pin

A piece of felt

Decorative button 

Handbag clip

Take your covered bias binding and create a loop (remember flowers have uneven numbers of petals... and please don't sit there plucking petals off daisies, you know I will be right and you will get bored with counting :)  ), pin it into place.

 Thread up you needle with a matching thread and stab stitch it through twice... this is literally as it sounds a stitch through both cords, it does not need to be pretty as it will be covered.

Now create another loop opposite the first, pin and stab stitch in place, repeat this until you have five petals and  sew off firmly.

From your felt, cut out a flower shape... I did this by finding a glass which covered my cord flower, drawing around that, then using the cord flower to trace around.

Now sew the seams of the bias binding down (don't bother if you are using ribbon), place it in the centre of the felt flower and sew it into place.  The felt will protect your bag from any potential scratches from your charm.

Put your corded flower in the centre and choose a suitable button for the centre.  To sew the button in place, I recommend that you use a thimble if you can and work the needle through a couple of layers at a time as you have quite a dense mass to get through.

Slip it onto your clip and attach it to your handbag... job done!

Now I know that many of you will be wondering if I managed to get a better ball of wool from my stash to make my socks, well the answer is a resounding yes!  A rather lovely hand dyed Peruvian yarn which shows up the diamonds on the socks beautifully.

And next it is time to go over to Handmade Monday which has moved to Wendy's other blog, Handmade Harbour which is a great read, so take a good look around.