A Summer Purse

I love a relatively quick project that you can observe at the end of the day and smile.

Recently I watched a couple of awesome Craftsy classes: Design Your Own Handbag with Brett Bara and Sewing Texture with Vanessa Christenson.  I was able to take some techniques from each class and merge them into my very own one-of-a-kind purse.  Sometimes you just gotta "wing it": no pattern.  It actually took me more than one setting.  I took my time and worked on it throughout a few sessions, because I really wanted it to turn out alright.  As I continue further down this path of creativity, I'm coming to appreciate the virtue of patience (of which I still possess very little).  I'm getting better at it, though.  Things really turn out nicer when I take my time, plan properly, and don't skip steps.  All the muslins and practice scraps that instructors suggest really do make a difference.  Nothing ticks me off more than spending a whole bunch of time and expensive resources and ending up with a jacked-up final result.  Ugh.  I was not blessed with patience.  But very slowly...I am learning.

The bag is still jacked-up at the end of the day.  The twisty-textured flowers drive me CRAZY!  That not-so-little space betwixt the green and white flowers keeps me awake at night.  

The inside is fun: Hot Pink (because this is Me we're talking about), and lots of pockets and slots (because I'm a little OCD about organization).  A purse without pockets is like a machine without a needle: utterly useless and frightfully frustrating.  Hmmm...I think I just composed a little poem right there.  I should write that down.

Brett Bara suggests using some different hardware for your bags in her class.  I don't dig the hardware so much.  The magnetic snap is the only thing I incorporated (and I love it - have used them before).  The interfacing she suggests is awesome (have used it for other things).  Pellon pretty much rocks for their wide selection and reasonable pricing.  I've taken to collecting entire bolts when they are 50% off.  It makes such an enormous difference to many a project.  It's the unsung hero of sorts.

The duck cloth (exterior) was the only thing I bought for the bag.  It was on clearance for 6 bucks-a-yard at Hancock.  I thought it was kind of fun - even more-so because it was CHEAP!   Everything else I had kicking around the shop.  So erm...I guess I bought it at some point...but I don't think it counts if it's been more than a month.  Ya, let's go with that. 

So the moral of this story is: I highly recommend the two aforementioned classes.  Find them easily by clicking the links above or here:

Design Your Own Handbag with Brett Bara
Sewing Texture with Vanessa Christenson (This is currently 50% off!)