Frilly Dilly Bag

This is a Frilly Dilly Bag pattern by the Janelle Wind Collection. I ordered it from an Etsy shop.

Ta Da. . . . . . . this is my Frilly Dilly Bag which I finally finished today.
The instructions were very easy to understand and it really didn't take very long to make. I just got sidetracked by other things that came up. I thought I'd share some things I learned that I would do differently if (when) I make another one. First of all, the interfacing I used was too stiff. My fabric for the base of the bag had enough body that I could have used a light interfacing or maybe none at all. I wound up having to remove it from the section of the handle that ties because it was just too much. I think even if I used a light interfacing for the bag, I wouldn't put it on the handle section. I really hate to make ruffles (so why did I order a pattern full of ruffles?). The pattern said to stitch two rows of basting stitches, gather and then sew it on. That just doesn't work for my machine. After trying another method, I finally ran a basting stitch by hand, pinned it on and adjusted it as I sewed. The fact that my fabric was already so stiff made sewing through that and the ruffles a little difficult. I thought it was a brilliant idea on my part to use transparent thread to sew the ruffles on so I wouldn't have to try to match all of the different fabrics, but I wouldn't do that again -- not so sure it is durable enough, but we'll see. The pattern called for one side pocket on the lining, but I made another one for my cell phone and that worked out great. So now, all I have to do is fill 'er up and go shopping!