Large Purse

So this completes purse #4. My friend Amy showed me a place in Addison called "The Fabric Yard" - a fabric store full of decorator fabric and trims at not bad prices. This purse idea started with a piece of clearance fabric on the sale table and went from there. It is much bigger than my others, I cut the fronts 14" x 18" and the sides 8". It really turned out great. A few learnings though: (1) I didn't stabalize the bottom because I couldn't come up with a stabalizer big enough to fit - that means when the bag is full, the bottom will sag. Probably not a good thing for looks or durability; (2) when using decorator fabric, I've got to figure out tension / needle specifications because I broke about 10 needles putting this purse together, (3) on bigger bags, you need to mount the handles with an extra 1/2' allowance and do a double stitch. These handles are in, but I think if you fill the bag to capacity they may not hold; (4) you don't need a piping foot for the decorator piping, it's too big to fit anyway. I used the Viking E foot and adjusted my needle far right - it worked great and saved me from buying another foot.

All in all a fun project. Cost $20 including trim, time ~6 hours.

Side View

Baby Spit Rags

I made about 5 sets of these and this one is the only one I thought to take a picture of. I got the idea from various magazines, etc, but cost was $15/ea. All it is is decorative ribbon sewn onto a fabric diaper and some quick 1 color embroidery, total cost about $1.50/ea. I had fun using variations of their last name: Dahl.

Total time to create - about 10 minutes each. Make sure you use the poly thread so they can be bleached in the wash.

Its a Boy Purse

Front View
Front - Close
Back View
Back - Close

My dear friend Sangita will have a new baby boy sometime this month so I wanted to make her something special. This is my third finished "crazy patch" purse and I think I love it the most because it was made for such a special occaison. I learned a few lessons: (1) piping is a pain to sew (mine was too large for the foot I had on the maching, (2) "minky" or stretchy fabric: a) melts your iron and b) can make for some tough lines when everything else is cotton because it stretches out of place. I did quilt the handles which I love as it adds a whimsical feel to the finished product. I also experimented with adding ribbon as one of the quilted elements, in this case "its a boy ribbon. It worked ok, but you need to make sure you use large width ribbon to be sure it shows in the final product.

Total time to create - 5 hours, total cost about $15/ea if you don't buy a pre-fab purse kit and do all your cutting yourself.