The tale of a (thrifty) Hungarian bag

Once upon a time, there was a bag that looked like this belong to someone in Far Far Away..

She got bored with the bag and threw it away/donate it

until it arrived in my country, Never-Never Land..

I spotted it in a flea market in Makassar, year of 2000.

It looked gorgeous, peeking under hundreds other bags from Far Far Away.

I took it home with me after paid Rp5000, or about 60c.

I washed it with hot water to kill all the germs, and washed it again and again, until it feels right.

Then I use it to carry my books to uni, to hang out with my friends, to the market with my mom.

In the year of 2004, I was working as journalist, and I felt that tote bag was un-practical.

So I chopped the strap, put another long webbing strap on both side

and the bag became a sling bag.

But, the wool material was pulled to the north a bit,

maybe because of me, or the previous owner loves to carry it with load of stuff in it..

You can see in the next picture, the bag looked uneven right?

So, aesthetically my eyes hurt because of those pulled area, and finally I do the deed.

I have to save my thrifty Hungarian Bag!

When I am done, I love it before, I love it even more now.. :)

This is the embroidery that makes me smile.

I am not a girly girl, but I can't help smiling when I see this gorgeous flowers.

The labels sewn inside says "Made in Hungary", "Hand Embroidery" and "55%wool 45% cotton".

Even the labels was handwritten!!! :)

Somebody put a lot of effort in this bag, and I determined to save it till death do us part.

I use black canvas for outer part, red canvas for lining, black cotton for pockets,

and as the result I got one very interesting bag.

My first encounter with magnetic snaps.

It's easy!

The interior of the bag. Love the red and black combo.

Love the roomy pockets, for my pocket camera and cellphone.

I managed to sewn back the labels :)

And to make the timing perfect, it's autumn here in down under.

This woolen bag is just the perfect match for the season.

I am glad that I saved my gorgeous-hand embroidered-thrifty-Hungarian-Bag

from going to landfill

because now the bag and I live happily ever after.

The End.