G[r]eek Alphabet : L is for Luggage

Hello! Another letter finished and in double quick time. this was a fiddly one because of the extra surprise, but I guess it was a relatively simple design in other terms. The shapes were also mostly quite blocky which helps.


First thing was I had decided to use the fake brown leather for the luggage but I was starting to wonder if it was contrasting enough. The colours all go together but the luggage has disappeared into the background. I'm sad because I liked the idea of the leather for the luggage.

So I tried another brown fabric which was slightly lighter. This worked better.

I spent some time debating the feet colour due to having chosen pink ribbon for the L and wanting a contrast with that and the background, and I ended up going with a strong yellow.

Decisions made, the purple base fabric needed sewing together as it wasn't quite big enough a remnant. Then I jumped right into the most interesting bit, the lid of the luggage which (surprise! - ish) I had decided to make so it opened and closed and had a big fat tongue in the middle rather than hanging out like in my reference picture:

 

I made the lid separately to get the lining and the outside hemmed to each other and also made the tongue out of a small bit of red ribbon separately. I then sewed down the lid, sewed in the tongue and sewed down the bottom half of the luggage. I really liked how it turned out.

Then all that was left was sewing don the L and defining the legs a bit with purple and yellow embroidery thread.

The lid does not stay closed without pins so I'm still debating adding in a snap or hook but for now I'm leaving it as it is. Yay! That was fun.
Moving on to M for Medusa I'm thinking of doing a bit of a redesign but I'm having a think first. Can't believe I'm up to row 4 already!!