Thank you one by one and paper princess. I will follow all of your suggestions. I sort of held the bag between my fingers where I was thinking of moving the handles to and it did seem better. So I was on the right track at least.
I was indeed thinking of shoring up the attachment point of the handles as I lay in bed last night. In addition to moving them I will definitely do the box stitching. In this case, practicalities outweigh looks.
Love the ribbon tie idea, it will go nicely with the look of the bag.
I wish I had thought of quilting densely to make the bag stiffer. It never occurred to me but that's a great idea for next time. I just used regular quilt batting and the lining is a thin poly.
I am glad you shared your bag knowledge paperprincess. It's good to learn from the pros.
BTW - the fabric is a heavyweight damask which I actually had in my donate pile. I had no idea of what to do with it and I'm pleased I found a good use for it.