Finished the first bag of the five ordered

Yesterday I finished the first bag for Susan. During my 'Open House' she chose the material for the outside and the lining and the model she wanted and she also told me that she wanted a bow on the flap of both bags.

The 'Open House' was really good because I am getting an idea now what my customers want. Obviously it depends on age - Tania, in her early thirties, wanted bags to go out dancing and clubbing, so they had to be small for just a few essentials like phone, cigarettes, keys and money but the over 60s want something else. Quite a few of them had their wallets/purses or even complete bags stolen. They want the bag to take a bit more than the mere essentials but not too big to become heavy. They also want to be able to carry it across their bodies and they want  the top to have either a zip or a flap for security. Also they like to have an outside zipped pocket.

I want my bag big because I always want to take lots of stuff with me and I hate to carry a bag across my body. But who am I to dictate to others what they want!

Anyway, finishing off Susan's bag ended with a bang. I was just doing the last stitches, which were a bit  difficult because it had to go through a few layers of fabric, when suddenly I had my finger under the needle and it went straight through the center of my nail and my finger was stuck. Funnily it took me a while to realize that I still had my foot on the peddle. I took my foot off, yanked out the cable and tried to free my finger. I started to panic because I had problems doing so. Alan was down in the yard and would not hear me if I shouted and I could hardly walk down the stairs with the sewing machine under my arm and my finger still stuck in it. In the end I managed to detach the needle from the machine but nearly passed out when I saw one end of the needle sticking out of my finger. It had gone straight through! Also the pain was quite severe. I went down to tell Alan he had to help me getting the needle out. He made me sit down because he thought I was going to faint, got some pliers and pulled the needle and after that the thread. I could not watch him doing so.

I suppose I'll be okay. It does not hurt any longer but I still have a plaster around my finger and don't yet want to see what my finger looks like. I suppose I will end up with a black nail but as long as there is no infection I think I'll survive!

Beautiful fabric. Depending how it is held the color is either blue or green.