Nothing like the offer of prizes to light a fire under my butt to get a project done.
My sister asked me if I could make her a new purse modeled after the one that she had been toting around for a few years. I said sure. It was falling apart, so I knew that I could make a pattern out of it pretty easily. BUT (there is always a but), she wanted this one to be larger. Large enough to accommodate a 3-ring binder. Ok, so, I need to copy said handbag and scale it to be about 3 inches deeper.
Step one: Find the fabric… I found the fabric buried in the clearance area of Golden D’or in Dallas in May. It was pretty close to the purple that the bag used to be. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I actually had time to take the bag apart so I could start the pattern drafting process. I was going to push the project aside for a few more weeks and then THIS popped up.
I had been busy prepping my
roommate for
Quilt Festival and didn’t notice what had been going on at
Sew Sweetness. What? Contest? Prizes?!! I scoured my project pile to see if any of my completed projects were eligible. I entered the
Big Ass Purse, but I decided that I should make my sister’s bag a reality before the November 11th deadline.
The pattern drafting went fairly quickly. I wasn’t sure if I guessed correctly on the leather trim pieces that go around the top of the bag, but that didn’t stop me from forging ahead. The hard part was obtaining leather for the straps and trim (I was able to salvage the rings and leather tabs from the old bag).
Tandy Leather didn’t have what I was looking for. I ended up going to a thrift store (across from Tandy) and finding this amazing jacket from the early 90’s for the super low price of $19.90.
Stay tuned for more on how this bag was constructed [I will admit that I should have made a sample out of simpler materials BEFORE attempting to make it with leather. I’ve used leather before, but not for something this complex. Do not zoom in to look at the handles.]. The pattern should come out sometime in 2014.
