A Dragon bag for a Game of Thrones fan! 

I recently had the amazing opportunity to make this custom piece for a friend of mine who loves Game of Thrones & Dragons! I'm hoping it helps her survive the long wait until next season....!

The Making of:

Making this bag was a little tricky. I changed my traditional shape to add scales on the side of the bag and incorporated a hand painted glass eye that really makes it pop! I had never done either of these things before but I had my idea and went with it!

We started out with the sketch:

At this stage I already knew it would be tricky due to the tiny little scales and the task of lining them up correctly when it came to sewing, BUT the end result would be awesome so I was ready for the challenge!

After we agreed on the design I made the pattern and got my supplies together. This particular bag is made of leather and suede. I was lucky to find the perfect metallic colors to give this bag a real dragon look!

In addition to the main design, I also wanted the bag to have a 3D look, so I incorporated batting into some of the scales to make them "puffy". It gives the scales dimension and  really makes them stand out. 

For the purple scales I used 1 very valuable skill....patience! I started adding these on one at a time, lining them up as I went and double checking my pattern to make sure they were spaced correctly. When you sew tiny things, pieces can move around and having patience makes all the difference!

One of the last steps was adding the eye lids and the glass eye. I designed the eyelids to fit snuggly around the glass eye to both hold it in place and give it a realistic look and feel.

For the eye, I used a 1.75" glass cabochon. The design is hand painted using a variety of nail polishes, including glitter of course! I practiced this multiple times before I got one I was happy with but it was absolutely worth the time! For me, the eye makes all the difference and is what gives this bag its character!

Since this was a custom bag I had to send it on its way to its new home but I think I'll just have to make one for myself in the near future!