Hi all,
i got a black shiny Gap messenger bag from my pal Janelle who kindly had a bag full of clothes and stuff she didn't want when my girlfriends and i went over last week. i like the bag alot but i kind of want to do something on the outside flap- like a cute snowflake applique or something- to make it a winter accessory.

i'm not sure if the stiff shiny material will accept any sewing...My other ideas were putting a cute trim on the flap or maybe stenciling a snowflake pattern or rubber stamping snowflakes.

Help i am dying for a "winterized" accessory.

Lately I've been intrigued by the idea of gluing or sewing photo sleeves onto bags, so that theres a nifty pocket to slip postcards or photographs into and out of.

that's a cool idea since then the basic black bag could be for all seasons and moods...has anyone out there done this and knows the best way? knowing me, it would take several misfires to get it right...

Grommets work wonders for attaching pockets to canvasy materials... then you can slip nifty photos into them. This way, it could be a winter bag, a summer bag, and so on.

i went to wal-mart the other day and bought little red star patches. i sewed them to my hoodie and it looks great. i'm in love with it. i've been wearing it all the time. it's my new favorite thing!


attaching photo sleeves is an excellent idea. how could i do that w/o using grommets? i can never seem to figure out anything to do with grommets. they look neat on everyone else's things, but i'm scared of them. i just don't know how to begin with them! any tips?

what are grommets? excuse my crafting ignorence.

Maybe you could make it a tribute to Enid Collins and glue chunky rhinestones and trim on it. Here's a picture of what I mean:
>http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1027982008
or>http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1028447197

(cut & paste into your browser if link doesnt work)

you could paint or stencil and design and fill it in with rhinestones...a little on the gaudy side, but it would certainly stand out!! all the other boring gap bags would be terribly jealous!!

I love those kitties!

Anasuya, as far as the photo sleeve how-to, I nabbed the idea from "Cheap Frills" by Jennifer Knapp. It's a really cute and colorful book by the author of "Retro Revamp", so it's very idea-ful, but the technical part is sketchy in spots.

She has you sew sequin by the yard around three sides of the photo sleeve, and then only on the top layer of the uppermost side so that you don't sew your photo sleeve shut.

Then sew the sleeve onto the bag, (by hand, using a running stitch.) Your stitches won't show, because they'll be upstaged by the sequins.

If your bag is vinyl, you may want to use a strong glue instead of sewing.

collins of texas rocks the party that rocks the party. I always want one but they go for soo much on ebay :(

anyhow, I add glitter to any and everything, why not add glitterglue snowflakes? if its the kind of amterial im thinking of, it will probably scrape off eventually (so you can 'winterize' and then dewinterize when spring comes)

I love the photo sleeve!

I first saw a bag with a photo sleeve in some catalog (Girlfriends LA, I think), and then a I saw a cute pillow with a photo sleeve in Joann's Craft magazine. Recently, I saw the pillow pop up again here:
>http://www.butterick.com/bhc/pages/articles/kidspgs/frames/frames.htm

Rio>http://jovigirl.com/cgi-bin/links/pages/
shameless plug

Thanks everyone, so many good ideas...I will keep you up to date on the progress....red stars sound great as my boy just got me a beautiful red coat...this was my first post on glitter and i feel so welcome...you guys rock!

thanks!

anasuya

I wanna sew a pocket onto the front of a shirt. they had one like that in GFla adn it said guy of the week on it. pretty cute. but i'm gonna use the plastic that is on the front of those binders w./ the pocket for pix and stuf on 'em. i had to cut myne apart and i have tons o' it lying around!