I love the Spanish fashion brand Desigual, I find it so creative and inventive that to date it's influenced three separate crafting projects of mine.
First was a scrapbooking page featuring the wonder of my Desigual skirt, followed by a greeting card inspired by my partner's Desigual trousers ... while today it's their eclectic range of bags which has been inspiring me.
When I spotted these bags in store there was only one thing stopping me sprinting to the till to buy them ... their price tag, at something like £60:00 it certainly made me pause to think.
And whiler I truly loved them [I even did that whole circling-around-and-around-the-display-trying-to-justify-the-cost type manouvre] ......
... I finally left the shop declaring "I could make something like that!"
So I did ......
*Paste* 
My starting point was a canvas tote which was free with some promotional thing at work!
Then, I managed to intercept some threadbare jeans my partner was throwing out, cut off the legs and stitched the rest in place around the bag. 
I used a combination of machine stitching - for strength and hand stitching - for decoration:
I kept the flies in working order and now they're part of a useful working pocket:
Some of my favourite [saved-for-best] fabrics decorate the handles - inside and out:
I trimmed a pocket with some lovely Webster's Pages fabric ribbon, the colour test strip from one of my fabrics and some decoarative brads:
I found a pack of 12 crocheted coasters in a £1 shop and experimented on it with some heat transfer dyes left over from a class given by Efemera Ink, to create this focal point:
And had great fun adding a bit of retro bling with these studs!
I'm so pleased with the end result! However it actually might not be the end as I can see myself altering and adding to it forever!
So there it is - my own take on a Desigual design .... which hardly cost me a penny! 
*Giveaway*
I'm giving away:
- one brand new, plain canvas bag
- pieces of the fabrics I used [I'll even go and track down those denim legs I've got stashed somewhere]
- a crocheted coaster and
- a variety of embellishments
... so that one of you can create your own bespoke tote too.
All you need to do is leave me a comment below making it clear you want to win!
The closing date for entries is 23:00 [BST] on Sunday 16th May and the winner - chosen at random - will be announced ASAP afterwards.
Thanks for reading,
Julie :)
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