Several months back I was looking through a previous Country Woman magazine (March 2009) and an article called "In the Bag." It caught my eye as it was the directions for making purses and totes out of place-mats and napkins. I laid the article aside fully intending to try it sometime, but only recently have I made any progress in that direction. I decided not to invest too much in the first one just in case it didn't turn out as anticipated. I found a gingham place-mat at a thrift store for 25 cents - no great loss if it didn't turn out.
Since it didn't come with a matching napkin, I used some gingham material I had purchased for bows on my Christmas presents! I also added some vintage lace that I had on hand (picked up from a thrift store), and a few buttons from my button stash.
It really went together rather quickly and was a lot of fun to make. My daughter (who was sitting beside me watching the process) kept saying, "I love that mom. You have to make me one for Christmas!" Knowing she loved it so much I gave it to her - which thrilled her.
I added a pocket (actually two in one) inside:
The purse fastener actually uses velcro - the button is just for looks -- it's hot glued on
I even made a cardboard insert for the bottom of the purse: (recycled cereal box)
Here's a photo of the handle where it attaches to the purse --- used the "X" pattern on it...
One last photo of the purse all filled up with my daughters "treasures:"
One of the best tutorials I found (with pictures!!) is
at this link. I didn't follow it exactly, but it's a good tutorial to base your purse on. This tutorial doesn't use the matching napkin -- Country Woman used it for the pocket inside, the straps, and closure.
I'm going to keep my eyes open for pretty place-mats (that would look good as purses and have matching napkins) -- maybe after the season clearance would be a good time to stock up on them!
Just for fun I'm linking to
- Free Bag Patterns
- Free Sewing Patterns for Bags, Purses and Totes
- Some interesting purses from the Tip Junkie
This post is linked to
Made with Love Monday
1 comment:
This is absolutely adorable! I loved it even better in person. As you mentioned in person, they would make lovely "gift bags" with another use once the gift has been given. That's cheaper than a regular gift bag (and a lot nicer, too)!
Thanks for all the links. I'll be going over them extensively. :)
Post a Comment