Yellow & Gray Part II

It's been over a month since the wedding I spoke of in my last post. August was such an incredibly long month.

Anyway, the bag and necklace turned out pretty well. My sewing machine was acting wonky so I took the opportunity to go to Church of Craft's monthly meeting at Etsy Labs. Incredibly awesome space, very nice people. If anyone attended I was the girl sitting off to the side not talking to anyone- sorry! Really had to focus on finishing my project. Next time I'll be better.

Perfect size to hold what I needed!

As I wasn't home with access to the internet I basically winged the construction (it's Noodlehead's Gathered Clutch Tutorial) and paid a little for it. My zipper was too long, and the lining ended up a little bunchy somehow. But I still like it, and it's nice to have a little bag I can just grab when I run out for errands or whatever.

Can you spot the place I messed up?

The necklace was finished the night before, and it was nice but the area around the closure was messy. I think if I had longer hair things would've looked cleaner haha. And although I didn't get any "those are awesome!" comments at the wedding, I'm kind of proud I didn't get any "you made that- right?"s.

Action shot with vodka and cranberry. Yum.

An "I'm with Coco" bracelet is appropriate wedding attire, right?

Up next (hopefully soon, tho D and I are going out of town this weekend so who knows) a few little refashionings....well, one refashion and a rehemming....that I made on my birthday.

Pleated Purse

I have a long, illustrious history of making bags...well, sort of. Now and then I feel the need to make one, to either hold something I've acquired (a la my DS bag), or just to carry things around. They're never perfect but always serviceable, and now and then come out much better than expected. I also get better with each successive bag.

The pleated purse is originally based on a bag I spotted at a department store. I'm not a huge fan of leather and didn't feel like spending $70 on something marred with ugly logos, so I decided to make my own. Despite my inability to find the color I was looking for (which is a little sad, since that was main reason the original bag attracted my attention), I decided upon dark blue with a blinding yet classy orange lining. I also found some swank buttons that I was determined to work in.













  

Materials:
- 2 yds exterior fabric (I'm a huge fan of upholstry fabric)
- 2 yds lining (didn't use all of it)
- 1 yd support (you can use fusable interfacing, but I like canvas)
- Matching thread
- 3 zippers (two 7 inches, one 14 inches)
- 4 awesome buttons
- 2 D-rings
- 2 swivel hooks
- 1.5 yd of strap material

I am all for making things easy- or at least feasible- so despite my original inspiration, the final product ended up being mostly based on something I saw online. With more pockets. And my nemesis: zippers!

I will spare you complete diagrams of all my pieces and complete instructions- if you'd like them comment and I'll send them your way. Instead I'm highlighting some of my problems.

The big deal for me were the lining pockets, as I had never done one before. This bag actually has two, and while the both were successful the first one was a little rough. Just remember to give yourself an extra allowance around all edges to make sewing the back of the pocket easier, and try attaching the zipper with the heat bond strips for a cleaner look.

I also did things completely backwards, and instead of starting with the zippered top, I finished with it. This put a lot of strain on my cheap sewing machine- it actually stopped working for a while, but once it rested up overnight I was able to finish. Next time I'll do things the right way- but for this bag I was left with gross messy seams on top.

My swank buttons ended up coming in handy though- as I cut out (for lack of a better term) band aid shaped pieces of my exterior fabric, added button holes and wrapped those around the sides to hide those seams. It ended up looking much nicer than it should have.