DIY Doily Purse

I bought a giant doily awhile ago to use in a T-Shirt refashion, but up until today it was still sitting in my closet in a bag.  So I decided to finally put it to use, in an entirely different project!

I'm thinking about going to an outdoor music festival this summer and thought this would fit in with the hippie vibe that usually happens at those sorts of events.

This is such a simple project, anyone can do it.  Here's what you need if you want to make your own:

Materials:
-Giant doily
-lining fabric
-standard sewing kit (you can hand sew this if you don't have access to a machine)
-purse handles (if you can't find any, you can make learn how to make your own HERE)
-zipper foot (not shown)

Before we start I'll show you just how big my doily is.  In reality, it's not really a giant doily, it's more of a very small table cloth:

You can get any size you want and any shape.  In fact, I think a rectangular one would probably be much easier to work with but this is what I had on hand so I made it work~

Steps:
1) Lay out your doily and then lay your lining fabric on top.  Cut your fabric to the same size (ish) of your doily.  If you have a frilly edge don't get too fussy.  This will all be turned over eventually so it doesn't need to be perfect.  Just be careful not to cut your doily underneath.

I used some left over tricot knit that I had but anything will do.  If it has just a bit of stretch though it will help if you're sewing the whole piece onto your handles using a machine.  If you're hand stitching I think cotton would work just as easily.

2) Pin the edges down.

3) Secure with a straight stitch close to the edge.

4) Fold your lined doily in half and mark with a pin 1.5" up from the bottom on both sides, each layer.

5) Guide the doily onto your first purse handle making sure not to go past your needle markings.  If you want to be able to open your purse when you're done, this is very important!

6) You need a bit of patience for this part but it's not hard.  Just adjust your fabric so that it folds over the purse handle opening.  It may gather a bit and you may have to use a lot of pins, but just keep at it.

Now is when you decide if your hand stitching this onto the handles or using your machine.  If you're using a machine be careful which way you put in your pins, and most importantly, make sure that your handle will fit under the sewing machine arm.  You can get away with a large handle on one side, but you'll get stuck if you're doing two.  Luckily mine fit!

Tip: This is much easier with a zipper foot and you can get nice and close to your handle.

7) Carefully and slowly stitch down your edge.  This won't make sense until your actually sewing, but don't worry too much about moving the handle through the machine, think more about moving the fabric.  The further you go, the  more you'll be able to gather onto the handle behind the needle.

Be patient.  I had a spectacular needle break (bits of needle went flying everywhere!), but that was only because I suddenly started rushing.  I slowed down and it all went very smoothly.

8) Repeat all of this on the other side and you're done!

See how nice the top opening is?  If you stitch right to the centre you'll have a heck of a time getting anything in there.

That's it!  The perfect bag to carry your lipstick, TP, flashlight, cash, and whatever else it is you take to an outdoor music festival~

Take a look at some of my other purse/bag projects:

1) Embroidered Bag  2) T-Shirt Bag  3) Asian Bag  4) Wool Tote  5) Summer Bag  7) Scarf Bag  8) Hathaway Purse

It's been pouring rain here for about 2 weeks straight and I'm about to lose it.  Leave a comment and send me some of your good weather if you have it~

Mini Bag

Do you remember my friend Gen from Cabin Fevered Gem?

She had a baby last summer and with two little ones under the age of 5 she hasn't really had much time for crafting, let alone blogging about her creations.

But yesterday she asked me to come to her house to help her learn how to use her new sewing machine.  It's a pretty neat machine, with a serging type stitch built right in!

She decided she wanted to try out this fab new machine by making a miniature version of the Super Simple Summer Sack that I showed you how to make ages ago.

The adult version is pretty big.  So, we used a half a metre for the length and .7 metres for the width but followed all the same instructions as the original.

Do you love the cupcake fairies?

Gen's little mini-me seemed pretty happy with her mini bag!

Such a little cutie!

Thanks for a fun sewing day Gen~

This project was featured here:

 

Easy Summertime Purse

A simple Google search will show you all kinds of neat and interesting ways to use embroidery hoops:

And today, I'm going to show you one more fun idea!

Here's what you need:

Steps:
1) Separate your hoops so that you have two and tighten the one with the screw as small as it will go.
 (I'm using 10" (25.5cm) hoops, but you can use any size.)

2) Run a bit of hot glue down the centre of your hoop and start wrapping your hemp cording
around it. 

3) In very small sections, add a bit of hot glue to the inside of your hoop, and wrap the hemp cording tightly around.  Keep the glue on the inside.  It will seep through a bit and is less noticeable when it's only on the inside.

You can get really creative and use macrame knots instead. Or, if you're really industrious, try embroidery thread. It comes in way more colours, but it's much finer, so you'll need a lot more.

3) Secure the end of your cording with the glue and set aside.

Now, we're going to make a purse body to go with your lovely new handles that you just made, with a lovely scarf.

4) Fold your scarf in half and then fold the long edges over about 2.5" and press.

 Now, most patterns will tell you to sew your sides first, but if you do that you'll have a very difficult time sewing your circular handles onto your purse, trust me, it's not fun.  The first one will go on OK but the second one will have to be handsewn, and then it will look wonky because they're different.

Soooooooooooo, leave your sides alone for now.

5) Pin the edge you just pressed around one of your covered hoops.

7) Sew each edge down, keeping your hoops to the left of the sewing machine and far away from your needle.

8) OK, now you can you sew your sides together.  With right sides together, sew your scarf together, leaving approximately 4" at the top separated.  If you go too close to the top it will be difficult to open your purse.

9) Remember one of your hoops has a little closure on it, so slide it around until it's hidden inside your fabric.

Guess what...That's it!  You've got yourself a new bag with one of a kind handles!

Sew easy!
I went back and forth on adding a lining, which wouldn't be difficult at all, but I just felt very lazy and went for this super duper easy version instead.  If anyone has questions about adding a lining you can email me and I'll try to help you as best I can.
Have a crafty weekend everyone!
This project was featured here:

   

Don't forget...you only have until Wednesday, June 13th to enter the Martha Stewart Banners and Tags giveaway!

New Accessories Section at Etcetorize!

Yay!  I'm so excited.  I've added a whole new section to Etcetorize on Etsy....an Accessories section!

I'm loading up the shop with boho summer bags of every colour and print out there.



Botanical



Eco

  

Floral

All of the bags are either lightweight or heavy duty cotton and fully lined with two pockets inside.

Of course, they're great for anything.  Use them at the market, shopping, at the beach, for school books, carry your laptop.  You name it, it'll probably fit.  There's loads of room for all of your belongings inside.

I added 4 of them to the shop last night and 4 more will be added today, with lots more to come.  Head on over there and let me know what you think~

Show and Tell: Purses

I love it when I can make something that is not only stylish, but functional as well.  Here are a few of the purses/bags that I've made and used:

This was my first try at using round handles.  I loved this purse but lost it in an Asahi Beer accident onboard an overseas flight coming home from Japan....long story~

I was able to save the handles so I made a replacement.  It's only slightly different, with a rounded bottom instead of the square corners of the original.

I loved this fabric because it came already embroidered!

 When something I  make calls for a lining I like to do something special and create a surprise with something contrasting.  I think it personalizes the project more.

Here's yet another in the same style but a mini version:

And for something new, here's a large bag I made.  I had some friends who were expecting babies when I made this and was going to make another version as a stylish diaper bag but they both went for napsacks instead.  I still think I'd rather carry my diapers in this though~

The great thing with making your own purse is that you can put as many pockets and organizers in the lining as you want!

I almost forgot about this one because I don't use it very often.  I made it using a hotpatterns pattern.  It's supposed to look like the bag that Anne Hathway has in The Devil Wears Prada but somehow mine ended up about half the size:

The other thing I love about making purses and bags is that they don't require very much fabric.  All of these bags were made from the scraps of other projects....not that I ever wear the purse with the matching top!  That would be a bit too much.  It's just a great way to save $$$ if you have left overs.  See if you can find the original projects for the grey wool and patent leather here .

Thanks for letting me share all of my purse projects with you.  In the course of pulling all of them out of the closet and going through them I found an extra $2.35 that I didn't know I had!  Off to the fabric store I guess~