The Perfect Double-Sided Purse

i feel like i am always on the hunt for the perfect purse.  one that is not too big, but not too small to be used as an everyday purse.  it was during my conquest i stumbled upon this purse pattern on where else, Pinterest.  the link took me to the blog for Warehouse Fabrics.  the blog entry features a great tutorial for a roomy pleated purse.

their version of the purse

upon seeing this purse i knew i had to make it because it was exactly what i was looking for.  so i went through my fabric stashes to see what fabrics i had enough of to use for the purse.  in the end, the only things i spent money on for this purse were the webbing straps and the magnetic snap closure.  my kind of project!

for my version of the purse, i used denim on one side and a fun printed cotton on the other.  the denim piece i used was the bottom leg portion of a pair of jeans i cut up a while ago to make a denim skirt.  i cut it open on one side and laid the pattern piece on top and cut.  

i had also been wanting to try my hand at embroidery for a while now, so i decided to embroider the denim side.  as far as the embroidery design, i knew i wanted to do something simple and fun that went with the other side of the purse.  so i chose to do some flowers, swirls, and polka dots.  i used lime green, teal, yellow, and white embroidery floss.  to make the two big flowers i simply traced a flower sticker i have.  everything else was freehanded.  also, i meant to embroider the piece before i ironed the interfacing onto the back of it so that it would be a little more flimsy while trying to hold it, but i forgot. i was still able to embroider it with the interfacing on the back, though.  i also serged around the edges of the denim to prevent fraying as i was handling it.

this is what the denim piece looked like once i finished the embroidery.  i did a simple running stitch because i liked the look of it the most, and also because this was my first time embroidering anything.

once i had the embroidery done it was construction time!  i added teal piping around the top band but didn't ad it around the body of the purse since my version has two different sides. i figured the body of the bag was already interesting enough.  for my straps i simply went to Hancock Fabrics and bought enough webbing off the roll to make two straps.  one thing i do wish i had done differently was put the straps in a little further form the sides of the purse.

another change i made was in attaching the inside pockets.  in the blog they attached the divided pocket and flap pocket once they had already pleated the lining pieces.  i wanted the lining pieces to be able to fan out to fit the outer layers, so i attached the pockets onto the flat lining pieces THEN pleated them.

this was my first time inserting a magnetic snap, but it is DEFINITELY not my last.  i didn't realize how easy they were to install!  my next project i'm going to use one on is for a wallet i keep saying i'm going to make to go with my new purse (keywords "going to", but i AM the queen of procrastination).

once that was done it was time to attach the lining and outside together and flip it.  after i flipped it and closed the opening i topstitched around the top of the purse.

and ta-da!  the finished product.  i absolutely love my new purse and switched everything over to this one as soon as i was finished with it.  now i just need to get around to making the wallet i want.

Seein' Red...Jeans

for the longest i have wanted a pair of red skinny jeans.  i've looked in stores but could never find the perfect pair.  well, finally a solution!  for my Clothing Construction 1 class our second sewing assignment was to make a pair of pants.  so what did i do?!  i bought some lightweight red denim and made me some red skinny jeans, of course!

this was my first time EVER making a pair of pants.  i must say though, they turned out pretty darn good!  i am sooooo ready to rock my red skinny jeans.

i pretty much followed the pattern to a 't'...i mean, we kind of had to for the class.  

the only tiny change i did make was adding pockets on the back.  i'm not a fan of jeans that have no back pockets...well, except for my amazingly awesome and comfy pair of denim jeggings...so i took another air of jeans, traced the pocket and made a template.  easy peasy!

also, in class, we talked about the different types of seams you can find on pants...like you have your classic seam, there's a flat-felled seam (which is done on the inside seam of jeans), and a fake flat felled seam(which is when they basically do a traditional seam then on the outside they do a topstitch).  for my jeans i chose to do a true flat-felled seam.  and i'm glad i did because the end result was great!

gorgeous flat-felled seam

and to make the jeans even better is the fact that they are long enough!  for those of you that have never had the wonderful opportunity of having jeans that are supposed to be long but hit above your ankles, you don't know what you're missing.  just kidding!  while many can empathize about jeans being too long it stinks hardly being able to find a pair of jeans that are actually long enough.  with these though, i don't have that issue!...even if i did have to add 5" to the pattern.  that's what i love about being able to make clothing now.  i can tailor it to fit me!

another awesome thing I love about these jeans is that they have a higher rise.  i have gotten to the point in my life-gosh i sound so old!-where i'm not a fan of the uberlow-cut jeans that like to shimmy their way down and make you look like a plumber when you try to do the most ordinary tasks.  these jeans hit me just below my natural waistline...although they could be just a tad lower.  all-in-all though, i love the jeans, and i may just have to make more. 

and here is a great little video that shows how a flat-felled seam is done, for those of you that don't know how to do one.

Patchwork Maxi Skirt

I'm baaaack!  i finally got back around to making myself another clothing item after my denim skirt.  *i will also go ahead and tell y'all, if you decide to make a skirt like this for yourself, an adult version is going to take quite some time.  the project isn't necessarily hard, just a little tedious at times.*  after doing that denim skirt i got inspired.  i had a lot of extra fabric leftover from making my cotton circle skirts, so i decided i wanted to do something with it.  thus entered this awesome patchwork skirt!!  for this skirt, i took an old pair of jeans, that were too small and had holes, and decided to use that as the top portion of my skirt.

as for how long to cut the denim, i just cut to where i went directly under the lowere tip of the pocket.  this way i could still have full back pockets.  now, on to those squares.

as i said earlier, i had a lot of cotton fabric leftover from making my circle skirts and wanted so badly to do something with it.  so, i took the five different patterns and cut out 5"x5" squares.  of course i didn't cut out the same number per each fabric b/c i had more of some fabrics than others.  in total though, i cut out 147 squares...but my skirt only needed 136. this number will differ for each person, especially if you want to use use more or less for each row, and how long you want it to be.  as you can see, that was A LOT of cutting, and this where you'll be glad to have a rotary cutter, if you have one!  another useful tool is a serger.  not saying you HAVE to use one, but it'll def make the project easier and go faster.  my serger saw lots of work this project, b/c every stitch is serged.  the only time i used my sewing machine was to make the gather stitch on each row.  so once i had the squares cut it was time to start constructing the skirt.

to get the first row of squares, i measured the width of my denim.  in total, the circumference was 40", give or take, so i knew the first row of squares needed to be bigger than that.  so, for the first row i used ten squares, making the row 50" long.  once you have your squares selected, you'll sew them together to create a tube.  since it is bigger than the denim, i had to gather the top of the squares row to make it fit.  to do this, i set my stitch on the longest stitch setting and turned my dial to a higher number.  for instance, my dial goes up to 9 and i set it to 6 (the higher # you set it to, the tighter the gather will be).  this creates a gathering effect as your fabric goes through the machine.  start at one point sewing around, and as you get back around to that starting point, stop a little ways before you get to it, that way if you need to adjust the gathers as your attaching the layers you can.



there is another way to create the gathers also, but i found that to be much more complicated, especially as your rows get bigger and bigger.  this method involves using your longest stitch and a lower number setting to create a loose stitch that you can simply pull and make the gathers by hand.

once you have your tube of squares, with right sides together, attach it to your denim.  i pinned every row to the previous before serging to make sure everything fit correctly.  now you can serge, or sew, the two edges together.  when you reach those pockets on the back, you'll have to unstitch the pocket so you can reach the denim edge to attach your fabric.  next, you'll repeat the steps for making the rows, creating the tube, and gathering for each row.  for each row i did, i did eight rows total, i added two more squares to make the row bigger than the last. *ex: my first row was 10 squares, so in sequence i did 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24.*

once you get to your last row, there is an additional step to do before making the tube.  once i had the squares sewn together for the last row, but before making it into a tube, i did the hem.  i figured it would be easier to do the hem with it straight out instead of in a tube already.  for my hem i simply serged the bottom them sewed the edge under.  you can do your hem however you like.  once your hem is finished you can continue normally.  after attaching this final row your skirt is almost complete.  next is to finish the pockets.  right now the pockets are still intact, but each one has hole in the bottom where i had to unstitch it.  well, to reattach simply follow the old stitch line on the pocket to sew down.  you will have to sew onto the fabric, but that was the effect i was going for.  once you've done that your skirt is done!  after that i just ran an iron over the entire skirt to lay the serged edges down.

i know this is a long post, the longest one i've ever done, but hey, i wanted to give you guys every detail so maybe this will inspire you sewers to make one if you want!