Upgrading My Cotton Twilight Bag

My hands are never empty when I go out. I always have books and samples that I am carting from place to place. Plus, I am constantly shopping for supplies and so many stores really prefer you to bring your own bag. I prefer that anyway. I hate to come home with a whole bunch of packaging.

I was in Walmart and noticed that these good sturdy Twilight bags had gone on sale. ($5)
No doubt they are preparing for the next movie to be released and consider this old stock. Now I like the Twilight series and have no problem carrying a bag with this logo on it...but it doesn't say much about me.

So I decided to add some buttons! Last summer I purchased a specialty button machine that works with heavy duty upholstery fabrics. It was an impulse buy...because I love upholstery fabrics....but I have had no time to really try out this new tool. So, when I noticed that this upholstery fabric in my stash matches the bag...a new project was started! Yeah, I can say I used the button maker!

Since the buttons are heavier than your everyday plastic buttons, I thought I might reinforce the bag a little. I glued a piece of sturdy felt to the inside of the bag where I would be attaching the buttons.

Then I placed my cutting board in the bag and used my Japanese screw punch to place holes where I wanted the button shanks to go through.

Once I pushed the button backs through the fabric and felt I used a tiny safety pin to hold them in place. This way I can change or recycle the buttons once the bag wears out.

New bag...with my stamp on it!