So! I’ve been meaning to make Amy Butler‘s reversible Chelsea handbag for well over six months now. In fact, this was my second sewing goal for 2009. I bought the fabric way back in November, and it’s been sitting in my closet since then. I finally got the pattern through macFab Fabrics a couple of weeks ago, and thought I’d take advantage of the long weekend and spend part of the time being creative. And, after a good long day of cutting material, pressing material, sewing material together and cursing my sewing machine for not wanting to go through thicker amounts of fabric, I finished my purse!

I’m pretty happy with it, all things considered. This was a more complex project than anything else I’ve done before. I’ve never had to deal with things like handles, so I’m not 100% happy with how they turned out, but if the handbag works well for me, then I’ll do a much better job next time I make it – I love the style and other than the couple of hurdles it wasn’t very difficult, so I could see this as something I would make again already. Plus, it’s a good size for fitting a paperback in, and we all know that’s one of the main considerations when looking at purses. ;)

Next time I go visit my parents, however, I will be borrowing my mother’s sewing machine for a bit to fix up some areas around the top of the purse where I had some issues. My sewing machine doesn’t work well when I want it to go through a bunch of layers of thick fabric, so the stitching doesn’t look as nice as it could…

But other than those two things, I’m really happy with how it turned out! One of the things that I really really liked about this handbag is the fact that it’s reversible, so while I love the fabric I’ve used on the outside of the purse, I also really love the stuff used for the inside, and if the outside doesn’t match what I’m wearing, I can always turn it inside out:

So. It has been 13 months since I made my duvet cover. At that point in time, I had said that I would be making a bed skirt for it.

And it only took me 12 months to start it. And a project that should have taken a weekend took about 5 weeks to finish… so just over 13 months later, it is finally done.

Yes I win like that.

But! Finish it I did. And although I am not 100% happy with it, I am still about 90% happy with it. There are a few things that I think I could have done better. Such as measuring lengths correctly. And sewing in a straight line. But for the most part, I like how it turned out:

You can’t really see it, but my duvet cover and bed skirt don’t actually match. The duvet cover has faded over the year. The sun, she shines right into my bedroom in the middle of the day. Thankfully, the panel that I am least happy with is the one that is on the side of the bed away from the door. So no one is ever going to see it. Except me.

… and yes, that is my Darth Vader pillowcase.

One of my Christmas gifts from my parents this year was a lovely new duvet for my bed. (Click on the thumbnail to see a full-sized image.) As it was coverless, I spent this past weekend making my very first duvet cover for it!

I have to say that I’m very happy with how it turned out – only thing I don’t like about it was the fact that you can totally see the zipper because Walmart didn’t have any darker brown ones, and the neutral was the closest to what I was looking for. It was also my first time doing anything with zippers, and I totally broke a couple of needles on my sewing machine. Whoops!

I’m excited about it, really. In the next couple of months when I have some free time, I’m going to make myself a matching bed skirt, and possibly an accent pillow in the yellowish material. Then I’m thinking about getting something from blik for the walls when all of the sewing is all finished. How fun! My room is starting to look “grown up!” (Shock!)