Speaking of Retro Awesomeness...

Hopefully I'm not dating myself too much here, but back when I was a kid every woman had a bag with wooden handles and a cover attached with buttons.  They were all the rage, at least amongst the Church Ladies, which was the extent of my exposure to fashions of the time.  I'm not sure of the exact era.  Late 70's; early '80's.  They were called Bermuda Bags (which I only discovered after scouring eBay for said wooden handles and searching all derivatives of "purse with wood handles/buttons/removable covers").

Look familiar?  I yanked a couple photos of vintage Bermuda bags from eBay to jog your memory:

Remember now?  Ok, so I love the look and the idea of these bags with interchangeable covers, but I don't particularly love the fabrics.  Somebody spent hours and hours creating these back in the day and while I appreciate their effort - it's just not my look.  I wanted to do the same thing, but with a more modern twist.

Here's my version:

The handle is not the traditional wood, but is vintage Lucite (fancy plastic), and the design is really quite clever because the handles lock together at the top closing the whole thing securely.  The handles were an eBay find, and they came with two covers.  I'm sorry to say I threw them away almost immediately so I can't show you.  One was tan with embroidered mushrooms on it (maybe I could have resold that one because it was oh-so-vintage) and the other cover was navy blue with red piping.  Yikes, man. 

Check out the way these handles work!  Somehow two layers of lining are attached to the handles, with buttons on the outside for covers.

I made my cover completely reversible, with no exposed seams.  Let me tell you, it was crazy tricky!   But now that I've done it once and drafted the pattern, I'm sure I can do it again.  This will be the best-dressed handbag west of the Mississippi.  It might also be the only dressed handbag west of the Mississippi, but it takes time to resurrect awesome vintage ideas such as this.  At least that's what I tell myself.  It's better than admitting I'm a dork stuck in a time bubble.

The orange/blue fabric is from a 2009 line by Riley Blake, called Wheels by My Minds Eye.    The floral is intended to look vintage, yet feel modern.  It's is part of the Pretty Bird line designed by Pillow & Maxfield for Michael Miller Fabrics.

Stay tuned, because now I've got all sorts of other ideas for bag covers, including a crocheted and felted one that looks like a giant pink rose.  Betcha can't wait.  :-)