The great fabric challenge

My bag making started with a slight fabric obsession (my husband would smirk at the use of the word 'slight'!), so there's nothing I like more than a fabric challenge. I love it when people drop by my website, browse my gallery, and then get in touch with a custom request. In the last few weeks I've had a couple of interesting challenges which I thought I'd share for this weeks handmade Monday ...

First there was Holly, who wanted one of my bucket bags...

but made from fabric with rabbits on it. Not as easy as it sounds. There are plenty of childrens nursery type fabrics with rabbits on them, but not so many which might work when made into a bag.

So, with a lot of help from google I managed to get a shortlist, but none of them quite fit the bill. Fortunately the customer also did a bit of searching and found this rabbit fabric.

In order to try and make the most of the rabbits, but without making a bag which is too pale and doesn't wear well, we've decided to make a patchwork patter with the rabbits and green, pink and brown chenille.

I'll post some pictures when it's made.

My second request that week came from one of my regular customers looking for fabric with ballroom dancers on it. I have to confess this one nearly defeated me. But with a little help from some Facebook and Craft Forum friends I managed to find this fabric.

Which has now been made into a pencil case and small coin purse.

Along with another custom order for the same person who requested a square purse with owls on it.

At least owl fabric is a doddle to find!