Beach Hut Shopping Tote

We're off to a barbecue tomorrow at the house of some relatively new friends. I found out a few days ago that it's not just a barbecue, but also the hostess birthday. She's a fellow crafter so it followed that the gift would be handmade and I settled on making a shopping tote (because they're useful for everyone surely?) Only after I made it did I realise that actually it's strangely appropriate...

We met these new friends because the host started a conversation with Jim at our local train station about his bag. Yes you read that right, two men, at a train station, talking about bags. Weird.

So it is a bag that was our introduction and now it will be a bag that will be our gift. There's a joke in that somewhere.

I used the Bijou Lovely market tote tutorial and the beach hut fabric is decor weight cotton by Clarke & Clarke. Only thing I did differently is not bothering with interfacing and scrimping a little by using some curtain lining I had for the interior.

I also added the personalisation which is an idea I stole from Prada (dahhling!) I saw these bags in a Grazia quite a while ago and have been meaning to do something similar...

One of the great things about giving handmade is that you can personalise, so I try and do it all the time. The letters are felt attached with Heat N Bond ultra (no sew) and the font I used is Collegiate which you can download from dafont.com

I have to say I'm really happy with the end result, in fact so happy that I think I'll be making one for myself next week...