Mother's Day Gift
My word for me today comes from Romans 8:28 which says "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
Lately I haven't had much joy in my sewing and I have been completely distracted and can't seem to finish projects. The quality of my sewing has suffered also.
Today I finally finished something even though there are flaws - I'll take it. It is a welcomed small "pick me up".
What can I say - another Sew4Home project. I love this site. Anyway I saw this project and thought it would make a perfect mother's day gift. My mom died decades ago but there are a few women that I like to give gifts to occasionally.
This project is a small quilted purse that is pretty simple to make. There were a couple of things I did differently and I will explain them below.
My fabric came from the home decoration section in Joann's Fabrics. Both pieces are a heavy duty cotton type. Here it is shown wrong side out after I had already quilted it. For stabilization I chose to use shirt iron on interfacing and headliner. I also chose to add 2 feet to the bottom of this purse. Because the fabric unraveled rather easily I serged the edges.
For the lining I used a couple of fat quarters which I also bought at JoAnn's. This fabric is horrible quality and I bought it years ago before I understood about buying good quality quilting fabric from a quilt shop. I thought this would be one way to get rid of it. This is also shown inside out and you can see the stitching outline for the inside pocket.
For the hardware I used some new products from Dritz. This is the first time I used their new purse hardware and I really like it - it seems to be great quality and it looks wonderful. The feet are from Everything Mary. For the quilting and top stitching I used Sulky's 12wt Cotton Blendable thread.
I chose not to use the piping. The initial plan was to use it and I made some to match the lining fabric but after installing it on the purse flap I was not happy with the look of it. After completing the purse I realized that the piping help to cover the gaps by the straps. Needless to say I have gaps on this purse but I will live with it. I am still debating if I will give it as as gift because of these gaps. Next time if I eliminate the piping I will need to add about 1/2 inch to each side to compensate.
Using the Sulky thread I created the diamond quilt pattern and I absolutely love the look with this fabric. This is probably my favorite part of the purse outside the hardware. I added 2 feet to the bottom of the purse. On this purse the feet are non functional because the purse does not stand on its own.
The inside of the purse has a back pocket and the color is more orange than yellow. Yellow or black would have been more appropriate colors for the lining. I am not sure what happened but the lining is bigger than the actual purse. I took 1/2 inch off the top edge to compensate for this. I think it is also a bit wider but I did not compensate for this.
The other change I made was how the lining and straps were attached. I left about a 3 inch opening in the lining and stitched it right sides together with the outside of the purse and turned it right side out. Afterwards I machine stitched the opening in the lining.
For the purse strap I cut a 3 inch strip the width of the fabric (60 inches). I folded it down to 1 inch and added a 1 inch wide piece headliner to give the strap some softness/comfort. I also used the Sulky to do 4 lines of top stitching for a decorative effect.
The other thing I did differently with the strap was not to make it adjustable with the "D" rings. I chose to cut two 4 inch pieces from the length of the strap I created and used those to attach to the side of the purse and attach the strap.
Overall I am please with the outcome of this purse. I do believe it is gift worthy but the gaps still bother me so I will have to get over that before I can give it as a gift.
I am sure I will make this purse again.
Lately I haven't had much joy in my sewing and I have been completely distracted and can't seem to finish projects. The quality of my sewing has suffered also.
Today I finally finished something even though there are flaws - I'll take it. It is a welcomed small "pick me up".
How I Did It
What can I say - another Sew4Home project. I love this site. Anyway I saw this project and thought it would make a perfect mother's day gift. My mom died decades ago but there are a few women that I like to give gifts to occasionally.
This project is a small quilted purse that is pretty simple to make. There were a couple of things I did differently and I will explain them below.
My fabric came from the home decoration section in Joann's Fabrics. Both pieces are a heavy duty cotton type. Here it is shown wrong side out after I had already quilted it. For stabilization I chose to use shirt iron on interfacing and headliner. I also chose to add 2 feet to the bottom of this purse. Because the fabric unraveled rather easily I serged the edges.
For the lining I used a couple of fat quarters which I also bought at JoAnn's. This fabric is horrible quality and I bought it years ago before I understood about buying good quality quilting fabric from a quilt shop. I thought this would be one way to get rid of it. This is also shown inside out and you can see the stitching outline for the inside pocket.
For the hardware I used some new products from Dritz. This is the first time I used their new purse hardware and I really like it - it seems to be great quality and it looks wonderful. The feet are from Everything Mary. For the quilting and top stitching I used Sulky's 12wt Cotton Blendable thread.
I chose not to use the piping. The initial plan was to use it and I made some to match the lining fabric but after installing it on the purse flap I was not happy with the look of it. After completing the purse I realized that the piping help to cover the gaps by the straps. Needless to say I have gaps on this purse but I will live with it. I am still debating if I will give it as as gift because of these gaps. Next time if I eliminate the piping I will need to add about 1/2 inch to each side to compensate.
Using the Sulky thread I created the diamond quilt pattern and I absolutely love the look with this fabric. This is probably my favorite part of the purse outside the hardware. I added 2 feet to the bottom of the purse. On this purse the feet are non functional because the purse does not stand on its own.
The inside of the purse has a back pocket and the color is more orange than yellow. Yellow or black would have been more appropriate colors for the lining. I am not sure what happened but the lining is bigger than the actual purse. I took 1/2 inch off the top edge to compensate for this. I think it is also a bit wider but I did not compensate for this.
The other change I made was how the lining and straps were attached. I left about a 3 inch opening in the lining and stitched it right sides together with the outside of the purse and turned it right side out. Afterwards I machine stitched the opening in the lining.
For the purse strap I cut a 3 inch strip the width of the fabric (60 inches). I folded it down to 1 inch and added a 1 inch wide piece headliner to give the strap some softness/comfort. I also used the Sulky to do 4 lines of top stitching for a decorative effect.
The other thing I did differently with the strap was not to make it adjustable with the "D" rings. I chose to cut two 4 inch pieces from the length of the strap I created and used those to attach to the side of the purse and attach the strap.
Overall I am please with the outcome of this purse. I do believe it is gift worthy but the gaps still bother me so I will have to get over that before I can give it as a gift.
I am sure I will make this purse again.
Comments
Post a Comment
Enter comments here