Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to make a couple of purses. I made the purses for my mother. She loves purses and I was in the mood to sew, but I didn’t want to sew a full outfit or whatnot.
The first purse I made was a quick upcycle of a pair of jeans turned purse. For the most part I followed a tutorial I found on Pinterest, but can’t seem to find it now. Basically you cut the bottom of the jeans off, and then cut open the pant legs, up to the zipper.
You sew the now open pant leg to the other side, so they lay flat. Next I found some contrasting fabric to sew around the bottom. My mom loves pink, so pink fabric it was. I also used the pink fabric for the lining.
The jeans were torn to begin with (that’s why I was up cycling them), so I only had a few good spots of denim left. I used the leftover denim for an inside pocket and for the outer side of the strap.
I also made a cute bow out of some leftover pink fabric to go through the belt loops on the outside of the purse.
After making the purse, I loved it! But I was worried that my mother may think it was too kiddy for her. So I decided to make another purse.
This time I used vintage McCalls 7760 pattern from the late 60’s. Again, I knew I wanted to make a pink purse, because my mom lives in pink.
As it turns out I had just enough of the glittery pink corduroy fabric from my sister’s art bag project, left over. The weight of the fabric was just right for a purse.
I followed the pattern for the most part, however I did make a few changes. The lining of the purse is cut shorter, so that the outer purse fabric folds over and is slipped stitched to the lining.
If you don’t know already I hate hand sewing, it’s not pretty. So, Instead I made the outer fabric and lining both the same length. Then I folded over the seam allowance and sewed the whole thing together inside out. Leaving a small opening for turning at the bottom of the purse. Yes, I got away with only a few hand in the bottom corner where no one will see.
What I love about this is the inclusion of a stiffening board pocket at the bottom. This gives the purse structure and stability. For the board I used some corrugated plastic board I had laying around (don’t ask me where I got it, I don’t know).
I used a small amount of denim I had for the lining, but didn’t have enough for the straps. I wasn’t sure what to do, and then I found a small amount of purple corduroy remnants in my stash.
I really liked how the purple and pink worked together, but felt I needed more purple. So I ended up making a giant fabric flower out of some scrap purple and pink fabric. I made the flower as a pin, so that it can be removed if my mother didn’t like it.
Lastly I had been given this cute knob button of a flower, I only had two and wasn’t sure when I’d ever use it. I thought the purple and pink of the button would really add to the purse, pulse gives it a closure.
Last item I made was the matching clutch from the original pattern. It came out very nice. I added a small strap to the clutch, because I like straps on clutches.
After making the second purse I thought it might look even more childish than the first. I just have that personality to make overly cute things, sorry. As it turns out my mother liked them both.
Well, of course who wouldn’t, I did make them after all. All joking aside, I’m really happy how well the purse came out and my mother just loves the jean purse. She says it has a pocket for everything.
Now that I made these purses, I really want to make a few purses for myself. However, I don’t think I’ll have time at the moment with all sorts of things going on. But soon, very soon I will make myself a purse.
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