Made It for Me: Andrea of Train to Crazy

Welcome to the first day of our Made It for Me series, where we're encouraging you guys to make something for YOU!

This week, we have invited some awesome guest posters to ESM to share projects they made for themselves, and for our first guest, we welcome the multi-talented Andrea of The Train To Crazy and Go To Patterns!

I'm sure most of you already know Andrea. She not only runs her own blog and link party each week, but she also heads up Go To Patterns, which hosts a team of extraordinarily talented designers and their patterns. I've been blog stalking following Andrea for years, and her talents never cease to amaze. How anyone can manage to raise 4 children, run a blog and a pattern shop is beyond me. I don't know how I manage to get myself out of bed and dressed half the time (and sometimes getting out of my pj's doesn't happen at all.)

Please help me welcome Andrea!

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Thank you so much for inviting me to this great series! I was so glad to have a reason to sew for me! I usually sew for my kids though I do occasionally manage to sew something for myself. Lately it's been mostly Casual Ladies but for this challenge I made myself a purse. With leather corners. I've been wanting to make one like this for ages.



I had picked up some leather scraps on a recent shopping trip. This leather is SO soft and wonderful. It is most likely really nice leather but I think I paid $5 for this bit I used.



I managed to just about match up the sides perfectly. When you look at it straight on it actually looks almost perfect.

The sewing pattern is the Rebecca Hangbag by Bev from Flamingo Toes. I omitted the ruffle that goes down the front. I actually think it would have been super cute if I had done the ruffle in the gray linen. But I wanted something a big simpler so I'll have to do the ruffle on my next one.



I love a handbag that has a zipper closure. I don't exactly keep mine neat and tidy inside so this hides the chaos that lies beneath.

Confession: I intended to have the entire interior made from that gorgeous Kaffe Fassett but cut the fabric wrong and didn't have enough! So one huge pocket had to do. I like it though. A great pop of color.



All in all I do love the bag. I think I would keep the ruffle next time and maybe make the handle out of leather as well. But I didn't have enough because I cut the leather wrong as well. Do you ever have projects like that where you just seem to mess up everything? At least I love the results!

Thank you so much for having me! Stop on by my blog to say hi! And please also stop by my pattern shop to find something fun to make!

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First off, what a gorgeous bag! I love gray linen and leather together, so classy. Also, I'm more than a little jealous of your shopping trip to L.A. I would be poor if I had access to all of that wonderful fabric :)

Thanks for sharing, Andrea! Make sure you check out The Train to Crazy and Go To Patterns for more awesomeness!

1. Quick Bandana Skirt 2. The Anywhere Dress 3. Go To Leggings 4. The Casual Lady