Making a Galabeya bag

I loved this galabeya dress as soon as I saw it when visiting my Bedouin friend.  My customer felt the same way when I showed her.  Due to the large beaded embellishment, the bag had to be big.  So we agreed to make a king-sized Carryall Shoulder bag.

My first job toward creating a bag is to manipulate the Carryall Shoulder bag template pattern to best fit the entire embellishment to the front of the bag.  When I am satisfied with the shape, I chalk the outline directly onto the cloth so I can begin to cut out each piece that will eventually be sewn together.

Next I study the embellishment to check if the beads and trims are securely attached.  If not, I hand sew the beads and any areas of the embellishment or fabric that needs attention.  This part of the process can take half an hour to many hours, depending on how much restructuring and mending is required.  For this bag, I estimate I spent two hours preparing the panels.

When I am finally satisfied the embellishment is secure, I cover the back of the panel in a strong fabric which reinforces the panel from the reverse side.  Sometimes I can machine sew the reinforcement directly to the panel, however in this case due to the neck line shape and heavy beading, I had to hand sew the panel.  Good thing I enjoy hand sewing!

A few hours later .... I am ready to construct the bag using the sewing machine.