A Purse for Cathryn

After my success with my first two purses, I decided to make a purse for Cathryn.

I used a remnant of purple fabric with green polka-dots that I found for $1 a Wal-Mart for the body of the purse. I cut out rounded pockets and a flap using a "Built By Wendy" pattern from my "Sew U" book (thanks again, Stacy!), green ribbon from my first purse project, and a green button for the pocket. That's the buttonhole foot there at the bottom.

I seamed the top of the front panel of the pocket, and after measuring where the flap would lie on the purse and the pocket, hand-sewed on the button. I love how perfectly it matched the green dots.

I turned the right sides of the fabric (the front panel of the pocket and the back panel) toward one another and stitched around the edges. I then flipped the pocket right-sides out, using my fabric marker to poke out the edges of the pocket. I was so happy with this cute little pocket that I woke Richie up from his nap to show it to him!

On the pocket flap (and I wish I had taken a picture of the back), I used a simple seam to make the edges neat. Then I used the buttonhole foot on my machine to make the buttonhole. Note--make sure you measure the button so that your buttonhole doesn't end up the wrong size, and make sure the fabric matches up with the pocket.

See how that matches up? I sewed the flap onto the purse body first before the pocket, and before sewing the purse together.

It looks a little wonky here, but overall I'm happy with the way the pocket looks. Also, in person, it's much cuter. This shot was taken after I stitched on the pocket underneath the flap.

For some reason, I'm missing shots of me stitching up the sides of the purse, as well as sewing the seams. I did this a little backward, and when I attempt this again, I'll sew the top seams on the fabric first, and then sew up the sides. I used a 1/4-inch seam allowance on the sides and top. I then pinched the corners (about an inch and a half) and sewed them up to make a triangle. You do all of this with the right sides of the fabric together, then flip the purse right sides out, using a fabric marker, or skewer, or chopstick or press out the corners of the purse.

The final step was to attach the straps on the inside seam of the purse. I tried to match up the seams on the straps with the seams in the purse and I think I did an OK job.

The finished project! Cathryn was so happy and excited to have it, and that's the most important part of doing any project--making sure your client is happy.

Toodles!