Perfectly imperfect: Canvas Bag Tutorial

Hello! Two posts in one month. . .crazypants, eh? I've actually found a little time to craft, believe it or not! I've had THE busiest summer evah! It's been so fun though. Anyhoo. . .I must share that I did not come up with this idea on my own. I was inspired by my niece's bag that she was given as a gift. I figured it looked like something on etsy and then perused etsy for awhile until I found something that looked similar to what she had and what I wanted to make! So, credit for the design goes to this etsy seller right here. I purchased this fabric interface from the Silhouette website.

I purchased the sewable interface. I have done some searching (now that I am slightly addicted to this idea of cutting fabric and appliqueing it), and have found that heat n bond will work with the silhouette too. I have not tried that yet, but I intend to and I'll give my feedback on that too. So I purchased this about 5-6 months ago and just sat and stared at it. Anytime I got my scrapbook supplies out, I would look over it and daydream, but I was too scared to rip it open and experiment. Do you feel me? :) I do this a lot. However, this week I finally had all of the supplies available to tear into this project and I'm so happy I did!
You will need: Canvas bag (I bought a pack of 3 from Michaels and I bought the white color)
                         Sewing machine (although you could hand sew, it just would take longer)
                         Various Fabrics
                         Silhouette machine (or other diecut machine that can cut through fabric)
                         Silhouette sewable interface (or heat n bond if you dare).
                         Ribbon (from my stash)
                         Clippy/pin backings for the fabric flowers

I first found a font that I liked. I used "Ghosttown". I then lined up my fabric choices for each bag. . .I had the girls pick out the fabric and colors that they wanted. Next I cut a square of scrap fabric (about 4x4) and cut out interface about the same size. Then I ironed it for 2 seconds just like the directions indicate to do. It adheres quickly. Then I trimmed the edges and peeled off the backing. Srsly. . .super easy so far. I adhered it to my thick media mat and prepared my font to cut. I used the "view grid" option and made the squares resemble the ones on my thick media mat to get the sizing right. Does that make sense? :P Then I cut one letter at a time and it did a great job! I recommend using the double cut option. I used fairly thin fabric and it needed a double cut. I then trimmed any stray strings from my fabric and laid it out on my bag how I liked it and ironed it. There. . .all set until I'm ready to sew! SO easy! I did this for all of the bags before I began sewing.

I used a zig zag stitch like shown (really I just wanted to show off my new crackle painted nails. . .isn't it cool?). :)

I found various ribbons from my stash and just sewed a straight stitch for those. Now. . .for the fabric flowers, I looked on Pinterest. Don't you love internet? I used this pattern, but you could use this one

Or this one:

Or this one would be adorable: I actually think the fabric covered buttons would work even better for the centers, but I didn't have any left, so I used buttons from my stash.