About a week ago, while taking tickets at a football game, I had a flash, so I grabbed a piece of paper and sketched out a purse. My mom really likes what she calls "hobo" purses - where she can just hold up one end and whatever she wants falls to the bottom of the bag. A bit tumbly for me, but to each her own. So....I sketched this purse, and then came home and spent most of last weekend trying to figure out how to put it together.
I am proud (or shamed?) to say that I already had all the pieces, I didn't have to buy anything new. The white is a heavy-duty canvas from the remnant bin a few weeks back, and the green plaid was already in my stash. The zipper was reclaimed a few years ago, I think possibly from a chair cushion? It was about 30 inches long and because there are no stops on it, I learned a new skill....threading a zipper foot back onto the zipper teeth. Over and over and over.
I have been asking around, and pockets are a big deal for a lot of people. So all told, there are 1o pockets on this purse - 8 on the outside and 2 on the inside. These outside pockets are stitched with rounded corners to make it harder to lose things in them.
2 inside pockets - with reinforced stitching on the corners.
And this is one of the two cell phone sized pockets on either end. The strap is long enough that it sits comfortably in the curve of my waist, right at the perfect length to hook a thumb around.
Positives - I like the angle of the on the bottom corners of the bag, I did a pretty darn good job on the zipper, and this is the first purse I have designed AND made totally from scratch in which the end product looks almost exactly like the original design. I like the subtle curve detailing on the outside pockets and I like the fact that it is pretty heavy duty.
Negatives - I think the white is too white and I think it looks kind of like a diaper bag for some reason. I had some trouble connecting the lining to the ends of the zipper on the inside and I don't know how to fix it. I can see the handstitching around the top of the lining and I did the entire handle completely wrong.
Things to think about - I would like to make this same design out of a lighter, more flowy fabric like suede or moleskin but am not sure how my machine will handle that...and I've never worked with either one. Thoughts?
She emailed me about a month ago and asked me to make another one for her sister, who is pregnant with her first child, a girl. Her sister picked out this fabric from Amy Butler, called Martini Blush.
It is a surprisingly difficult fabric to match. The background is not really olive, not really lime, but somewhere in between. In addition, the largest ball design is only about an inch wide, so this was an unexpectedly busy design (we ordered it online). I also wanted to make sure it was dirt-resistant, washable and not too girly, at least from the outside, and at least a little bit classy.
I ended up going with a khaki, almost-canvas-feeling, heavy cotton twill. I used the Amy Butler fabric as trim and I lined the bag with it. The pockets are lined with plain pink cotton and I lined the entire thing with iron-on fleece for heft and protection against leaks.
I also added some extra pockets. The original design called for a regular flap, without a pocket, so I added one, and also added a second bottle pocket on the other end of the bag. It's not too shabby, if I do say so myself. I did use a commercial pattern because I have no kids, so I have no idea what size to make things that relate to babies. =)
I do apologize for the photo quality, it has been gray and drizzly here for the past couple of days and I took these in my living room in a hurry when I got home from school today. 
