I don’t know how anyone can own just one handbag! I can’t do that because I must coordinate my bag with my outfits, and I love colour, and my diaper bags are no different.

I recently splurged on a few different styles of my favourite brand of diaper bag, just so I could have different looks, but had to restrain myself when their latest style came out in my favourite colour…black damask tapestry. I resigned myself to not having the new bag, until I saw a fabric at LP Azar’s recent Madness Sale, which “inspired” me to do it myself and make my own version of that beautiful bag.

A good-size diaper bag is usually about 12 inches high, 15 inches wide and seven inches deep, and has lots of inner and outer pockets for storage.

For this project you will need:

* A yard of a fabric you love (I used a black damask tapestry)

* A yard of vinyl canvas for lining (I used black)

* Six yards piping cord (I used black)

* Three yards two-inch ribbon trim (I used black chenille)

* 20-inch zipper or closure of your choice

* 7 X 15-inch wide strip of stiff cardboard (for base of bag)

You will then:

Find a bag style you like

* Construct bag with piping and outer pockets

* Construct lining with inner pockets

* Insert cardboard strip into base of bag

* Place lining inside bag, wrong sides together, with bag’s right side out and lining right sides facing inside the bag

* Fold raw edges inward together and stitch to close

* Insert zipper

And you are done. Your very own inspiration bag, for a fraction of the cost of the original.