Custom Made Patchwork Bag

Awhile back a customer contacted me about creating a custom bag for her.  She was this wonderfully nice woman LaVerne who lives in Vidalia, LA.... she had a dress that was her mother's and was hoping to make something special from it.  She had previously purchased one of my smaller handbags and was hoping I could make a larger one using fabric from the dress.  She mailed it to me and I opened the package to find a dress made of panne velvet - something I'd never worked with before.... thankfully my Mom was visiting soon so I held off doing anything until she arrived.  :)  Really, she ended up sewing the whole bag and I'm not afraid to admit that!  It looked like a HUGE pain to sew the velvet, plus my sewing machine is acting up.... she pulled it off though and the end result looks great: