Me Day

Maggie wants my new purse!!

I rarely sew for myself.  I sewed the Zentangle journal for myself because I wanted to give Jude one for Valentine's Day, but I wouldn't have sewn my journal cover if I hadn't been working on the one for Jude. So the other day, I took a me day and finally made myself a purse I've had planned for some time.

I do usually make my own purses, but I don't finish the next one until the previous one has worn out. The two purses on the left have clearly been loved.  The brown one is a Lazy Girl Design.  I can't remember who made the pattern for the black one, but the fabric is from the wonderful Mekong River Textiles  in Silver Spring, Maryland.  When I noticed a stain on my last purse, I decided I needed to make the Heather Bailey pattern I've been planning.  Okay, I'm not normally a ruffle girl, but this was cute, and it looked to be just the right size, a little bigger than the ones I normally make.  Maybe you recognize my Zentangle journal cover fabric.  I love it, and I've been saving enough so I could use it in this project.

There weren't any pockets on her design, and I thought about adding one, but I never really use them anyway.  I used some Robert Kaufman Virgin of Guadalupe fabric for the lining to remind me every time I open it of the divinity that is around us every day.

Tony says I should make purses to sell, but they take a lot of time to make, and with the cost of fabric, batting or interfacing and my time, I'd have to charge too much for them, I think.  I don't want to have to think about the purses I make, so I always by a pattern, but I haven't found one that's perfect yet.  Maybe I'll design my perfect purse and then make a few for Studio Tour to see if anyone is willing to pay what I'd need to charge to make it worth my while.   I'll post soon about my recycled Jean Bags, but I'm willing to make these because they are using things up that would otherwise go to waste and because I don't have to pay much for the fabric.

 

I also made a little lunch bag (I don't know if I'll keep it for myself or not) out of a rice bag that I got when we were handing out rice from our food coop.  The bag must be durable, but it's woven with this plastic that wiggles and moves a lot, so I'm not sure how well it will wear. It carried rice from Bolivia to the US, so you'd think it would wear well, but I'm not sure. I think it's cute.  I thought about adding a big button and an elastic closure, but I decided that simple is probably better for this recycled bag. If anyone has any of these rice bags sitting around, I'd be glad to take them off your hands.  I'd like to explore a bit more with them. I have a coffee bag or two that are waiting for my inspiration, but for now, that's two more projects complete.  Yeah, me.