Purse Progress

Still plugging away on this little purse. It actually is quite small, despite the number of pieces. We were limited on size due to the fabric being fat quarters (and the sole remaining bundle of brocade at that) rather than fabric we could purchase by the yard.

All of the handle attachment units were hand basted as you see here.






And then edgestitched.








For those of you who are having trouble following what I'm doing - and I don't blame you; frankly, I'm having a little trouble following it myself - here are a couple of pictures that should make it clearer. This top photo shows the pieces spread apart so you can see them better.

But when I attach the purse to the handles, they'll actually be scooted together like this.




Here's something really sad. Or pathetic. Or sad and pathetic, maybe. I drafted this pattern myself, but once I got to the point where I needed to start actually putting pieces together, I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to do it. So here is what I finally settled on. First, I folded the upper curved edge of the purse and lining sections under along the seam line and edge stitched them. Then I sewed the purse and lining sections wrong sides together.

Then turned them right side out. Next, I'll use my zipper foot to sew the attachment units onto the handles, then I'll sandwich the raw ends of the attachment units between the purse/lining sections and hand sew it. Firmly. With very strong thread.

How crazy is this? I'm actually considering making two more. They would be great gifts for my other daughters for Christmas (notice the loooong lead time!).