Mama's gotta brand new bag!

...and Pickles too!
As you may know, I'm a member of the ladies auxiliary at Daddy's firehouse. The gals are sweet and we have a good time. I thought it would be a fun project to give each member a bag for auxiliary use that we could each decorate. I found good bags at cheaptotes.com

Since our logo includes Rosie the Riveter, I really wanted to do something with polka dots as Rosie wears a red and white polka dot kerchief in her hair. I decided on a polka dot initial with sparkly gems. Now, I've never done this sort of thing before so just know that I was totally winging it. What I do like is tips and suggestions on doing it better or easier. So if you have one or the other, please share!

My materials are:

my bag

red and white polka dot fabric

paper

iron on gem stones

The first thing I did was make my initial on paper. I pinned the paper to my fabric (a little tilted so it wasn't so symmetrical). Then with the zig zag setting on my sewing machine, I sewed the paper to my fabric. When I was done, I cut the paper out and had a nice initial with a clean neat edge.

I then added my iron-on gems to give my initial a fun sparkle! I gotta tell you , I have a whole new appreciation for folks who make gem studded goods. Oy, What tedious work! But I got them all placed right and then applied the iron. Now bejeweld,  I cut out my initial and used clear, nylon thread to sew onto my bag.
 Not so hard, right? That's it for now. Oooo, y'all wanna see it now, huh? Pics coming as the project progresses!!