Brilliant Bags

I recently came across my old copy of Brilliant Bags by Deena Beverly. I bought it back in 2006 -its year of publication- and it's the book I made my very first bag from a pattern from more than 10 years ago.

I didn't follow the pattern entirely and I added pockets all over because that was my original reason for making a bag myself, to customize it to my needs. I also embellished it differently, with lots of hanging leaves and made it fully reversible. 

I loved that bag so much I wore it threadbare but unfortunately I don't think I have a picture of it to show.

When making this bag all those many years ago I learnt a bag-making trick that I used on almost all of the bags that followed that very first one, so this book and that bag will always hold a special place in my heart.

Leafing through the book now, it's still a great book to start making bags with and you can actually still find the book here if you're interested in a copy.