30 Days of Spring - Day Nine - My new purse

A new purse for me was long overdue. My old one, the one I made myself three years ago, had huge holes in the bottom. For a while, I just improvised with security pins, that led to me leaving a trail of small change and peppermint drops wherever I went, but I was fine with that. But recently, the holes had gotten so huge my camera and cigarettes fell through it, despite security pins, so I finally had to make myself a new one.
Which I did today.

 

Complete with owls and mirrors and glitter and a lady reading a book and my own cool label :) And fake lace. 

Now I know what I kept all those tiny scraps of fabric for! 

I "invented" the pattern myself, basically, it´s rectangles. 

Usually I use one of my childrens books for the base, because they are slightly bigger than A4, trace around it, add a little seam allowance, and adjust the sides and the bottom according to it. 

Cut each part twice, once the shell fabric, once for the lining. For the shell fabric, I like to use fabric from Ikea, because it´s thicker than simple cotton, as it´s intended to be used for furniture. For the lining, last time I used satin, now I just took a rest of a skirt I´m sewing for Eva.

Embellish everything before putting the parts together, always good sides facing each other. 

I pondered about adding cardboards or some solid plastic to the base, to give it more structure, but I was afraid the edges could tear the seems, on long term. 

However, it does have a photopocket in the lining:

Made by cutting plastic from an old binder and zig-zag stitching it on the lining fabric, before sewing it in. I can recommend this, because I had one in my old purse, too, and until today, when I threw the whole thing away, I never had any trouble with it. Guess it was the most durable part of the whole construction :)

Just as a comparison, this one was my beloved old purse: 

Sigh. I really liked it. And yes, it had the New Moon cover picture on it. Well, I´ve got that on my shoulder now, so it´s okay to say goodbye. And the new one... it´s the image of the evolution of my personal sewing success :)

So... here´s my music for today: 

Can you believe I never, ever heard that song, before today? I mean, even my husband, who doesn´t care about music at all knew it - wow. Apparently he learned about it on a bachelor party, but still... and it´s fun. Nice song for spring, too. 

I´m off to the pub, now. Oh, and later to hiding some Easter Eggs. 

See you in the morning, everyone :)