You know that feeling when your bag handles are cutting into your hands because you’re carting around lots of stuff for your kids or you bought more than you expected?
Last year Little Miss Bossy-Boots and I went to the swimming pool as often as we possibly could and even though we left some of our things at one of the lockers there, I was still lugging around towels, a picnic lunch, swimming costumes, toys, sun cream and lots more. The bag I used had very narrow handles and they were cutting into my hands or shoulder depending on how I carried it. So I made a padded bag handle whatsit that I could wrap around the handles and close with velcro.
I kept misplacing the pad whenever I took it off to open the bag so I added a little ribbon that I could attach to one handle. Then I rounded off the corners and added some stitching down the side so it wraps around more easily. Now I’m really happy with the result and I’ve made one or two for most people in my family. I usually have one in my handbag so that I’m always prepared.
I was asked to make some for my sister’s mother-in-law and one of her friends so I sat down and made a whole stack of them.
I’m hoping to rent a shelf in one of our local fabric shops and sell some handmade goodies, including these. So I made a basket to display them in:
I had to take off the button and sew it on again as I couldn’t live with the wonkiness…
I thought that maybe you would like to see how I make my handle whatsits, which really need a catchy name, so I’ve prepared a tutorial and am just waiting for better light to take some pictures. Hopefully that will be done by this weekend. It’s snowing again today which makes it quite dark in my sewing room. I don’t want to complain, though, as I really like the snow.