The Wedding Purse

 
It's done! It's done! It's done! Last time I left you with this, sewn down folds on a piece of fabric.

This weekend I cut out my pieces and sewed everything up.

You can see that my seams are not lining up 100 per cent in the bottom. Ah well.

Some shots before gluing. I like to topstitch close to the top to have a somewhat flatter fabric sandwich/seam to work with. Sometimes it's a little fiddly to hide when gluing the purse to the frame but most of the time it's a nice guide to work with. Awkward hand alarm in these pics.

And this is the frame that I've had for at least a year and saved for a special occasion because I love the ornamental moulding on the front frame. I've had the fabric for even longer, about 1.5 years. I guess my wedding is special occasion enough to have finally made use of both, eh?

Gluing frame purses is fiddly and nothing for overwrought nerves, sometimes it's a relatively easy job, sometimes it proves messy. This time it was messy. My nerves did show, haha. Let me tell you, this purse is not perfect. I used an ever so slightly too large seam allowance before turning everything, therefore, as you can see below, I've not been able to hide my topstitching perfectly in the inside. But I don't care! It's on the inside, nobody will notice. Also, it's my wedding purse and it's finished. I can get married now.

So, without further ado, here are a few gratuitous shots of my purse next to my shoes! Yep, exclusive peep at my wedding shoes for you, too. What a day!

Happy sewing!

Credit: I learned how to make frame purses from Lisa Lam's tutorial and have adapted the pattern shapes to my needs since.

Pouches and Purses

The last of the pouches for my girls is finished and another Polaroid has found its place. I really need to make that tote sometime soon now to sew up the rest.

This pouch is slightly thicker and softer than the others as I used a thin fusible batting, leftovers from the Nanette tote which I made last spring (find it here, here or here), because I'd run out of Vilene H 200. All these pouches quickly gobbled up my stash of it and I really needed the last bits for my wedding purse. (Yeah, lazy me didn't feel like a run to the shop.)

At this moment I've fused all my fabric pieces and have sewn down the folds on one outer piece.

Once I've repeated this on the second outer piece, I can cut them according to my pattern and assemble my purse. I'm going really slowly with this project but I don't feel like potentially having to take my seam ripper to task on the fabric at all.

Here's a peep at the embroidery done by my friend on some Cotton Couture Nite which will serve as lining. Our names are above the date but I'm keeping the future husband (six days!) offline.

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I received the partly metallic machine embroidery thread as a birthday gift from another of my hen night girls who knows how much I love green and sewing back in march. I'd not been able to use it before and I love how now both friends have been involved in my wedding purse.

Goals: Finish the second outer piece this evening. Cut parts out with my pattern tomorrow and sew up the purse. Glue everything to the clutch frame either tomorrow evening or on Sunday. As I said, taking my time here.

Wishing you a lovely weekend and some happy sewing!

Linking up with TGIFF, this time over at Mama Love Quilts.

Foxy Frame Purse

With the curtains as well as my knitting finished, I had Sunday off to do whatever would please my fancy. After contemplating making a zippered pouch for a while, I decided to go with a framed purse instead. I've made two in the past and the first ended up a bit wonky (lesson about matching up seams when adding a boxed bottom) and the second is very nice but still suffered from my inexperience with glue. Yeah, the frames were a bit smudged. Given that I would like to make my wedding purse myself, I gathered it would be good to get some practise in, so I cut into my recently obtained Outfoxed and came up with this little beauty:

The fabrics are reversed on the other side and I made sure that the seams match in the bottom. Despite a lack of photographic evidence, I can assure you that the boxed bottom itself is also much much better than my first attempt nearly two years ago. I decided to echo the design in the lining and added my label to the plain side.

The purse is just right to carry my powder, powder brush, and some more when on the go. The last one I'd made is double the size. Great to store cosmetics at home but too big for a night out or to take to work. The frame is smudge-free, too. I'm really pleased with the results.