A New Bag

The old purse I was using was a felted bag that I'd made yonks ago.  The handle started to give out, and then, despite some attempts to maintain it, it finally had to be put to rest some months ago.  I didn't have a new bag at the ready, so I just dug out this old fabric one I had, with a tattoo-print fabric and some plastic handles.  It served my purposes for a while, but ultimately was also an old bag and started to show some wear and tear.  In the last week, the zipper finally broke (on top of various other wear spots and rips in fabric, etc., so I decided it was finally time to stop procrastinating and make something new.

Fortunately I had a pattern and some fabric & notions already for a purse I'd been planning last spring, so I just took my weaving loom down from my crafting table to make room for a sewing project, and threw this baby together in the last 24 hours, natch.

A lovely batik with rainbow colours and a neutral background are paired with a coordinating purple batik handle and lining, matching purple buttons for a bit of embellishment, and a bright blue zipper just to throw everything a bit off kilter.  There are pockets inside there, too, for my phone, my keys, my coffee cup cozy.  It's got a pretty nice shape but is still not quite perfect.  A gusset would be nice, for example, and the outer fabric is a smidge too large for the lining, imho.  I will probably continue to make more purses in pursuit of just the right one to suit me for the next couple of years.  If I ever get around to it.

Diversions

One of my work friends is having a birthday party on the weekend, at a Roller Derby match. It reminded me that I had a metre of super cool Roller Derby girl fabric stored away in the stash bins, so I pulled it out and made a little purse, today. I didn't use a pattern, just made it up as I went. If I redid it, I would change some things, like the angle of the folds in the fabric, and the width and circumference of the top band... but it's still pretty cute as it is.


Sewing was an adventure, by the way. I was cutting and piecing fabric on my coffee table, for pete's sake. And if that isn't bad enough, I had to set up the sewing machine on our little rolling butcher block. I really need to find a studio space somewhere or something.