Lazies, This is one of the most delightful uses of a novelty print that I’ve seen on one of my bag designs. Sabra Rounds, of FabricLovers.com ^[1], came up with a clever use of embroidery to make the most of this fun fabric on our Gracie Handbag design ^[2].

Gracie Handbag (LGD118) made with Route 66 fabric.

Here’s Sabra
I fell in love with the Route 66 fabric by Alexander Henry when it was delivered to my store, and knew I needed to use it for something.

Route 66 fabric by Alexander Henry.

The nostalgia of the print, and also having driven to many of the places mentioned on the fabric, really spoke to me.

Creative Inspiration
As far as the “highway” idea down the middle of the bag, well, I guess you could say that was creative inspiration. I was originally going to use a coordinating red fabric for the center panel of the bag as I’m a really big red lover, but all of a sudden the picture of black with the yellow dashes came to mind. I just knew I had to do it!

The center panel is a simple piece of black fabric with yellow dashes stitched to look like the yellow line of a road or highway. It fits perfectly with the theme of the novelty fabric and the black looks wonderful with the print fabric.

Back view of Sabra’s Gracie Handbag.

Embroidered Center Panel
Another neat part of it is my husband actually did the digitizing of the dashes for me. I was just going to do freehand satin stitching, but he offered to digitize it, and I’m glad he did as it worked out perfectly and looks nice and even (something I’m sure my freehand stitching would not have been).

The view inside showing Sabra’s love for the color red.

Final Notes
I settled for using the red for the lining. I’m also going to do a Wonder Wallet with the fabric left overs. I’ve been using my new Gracie while ‘running’ errands, and it’s been fun!
- Lazy Girl Sabra, FabricLovers.com ^[1]

Working With Directional Prints
Fabric on Gracie wraps from the front, across the bottom and up the back. That means a directional print such as this will be upside down on the back of the bag. To fix this, cut the panel pieces 1/2″ longer, then cut in half at the middle where they would normally cross the bottom of the bag. Rotate one piece, then sew back together using a one quarter inch seam.

Watch Demo of Gracie Handbag
New to the Gracie Handbag design? Take a few minutes to watch a video demonstration of this design here ^[3].

Blogger Appreciation
Lots of bloggers link to my blog, or post about the goings-on here at Lazy Girl. These are just some of the blogs that have shared some Lazy with their readers recently. I greatly appreciate everyone who has mentioned Lazy Girl. Thank You!

TipNut ^[4]
About.com ^[5]
Checker Newsletter ^[6]

Enjoy!
Joan

Tags: purse pattern ^[7], sewing pattern ^[8], novelty fabric ^[9], embroidery ^[10]