There are sewing bloggers who make beautiful purses. I am not one of them.

I didn't even realize I was going to make a purse this weekend.  I just stumbled across a set of prints I'd forgotten about wanting to combine and decided I would Do Something with them right away.

The first impulse was to sew a skirt--of course it was.  It always is.  Which means I have...several...mixed print skirts.  So maybe not a skirt this time.

"Y'know," said that voice of ill-conceived impulses, "You haven't made any purses for a while..."  And I hadn't--checking file dates on photos, it was 2011, and it was this one

made during my PIPING I CAN DO PIPING phase.  Also before the whole "Hmm, I might very well be goth, huh" thing.

As with the few purses I'd made before, there had been a lot of planning and measuring and consideration for exactly what things I would be carrying in this purse.

The purse I just finished...not so much.


I started by lining up a few same-length rectangles of the prints, two of each, so some vague idea that there could be a front and a back of...whatever it was I would make.  I then went through the whole "not another skirt how about a purse what oh hey sure why not" thought process, dug out the remains of the bottom weight poly-cotton twill--in a color I've seen charitably described as 'olive oil'--that I'd been using in purses for something like rigidity for ages, and started assembling the rough front and back panels.  With top stitching.

After they were together, it was time for bed and I decided, as I was drifting off, that it would be a great idea to rotate the pieces 90° from how I'd assembled them, giving me a bit of room to cut them apart and insert a zipper on both sides.  This also led to a long delve into my applique and lace stashes to see if any of those wanted to play.  A looped cotton braid that had turned gray in a black dye bath (soooo...not so ~cotton~ after all) seemed suitable, so I stitched that over the narrow center section on what would eventually be the front.

Measure, cut, insert zipper while also attaching lining, no problem.  Top stitching things down around the zipper...yeah, not so great.  Not so great any of the times.  I decided not to worry and moved on to figuring out what I'd do next--and that's how the whole thing worked out, just figuring out what to do next, calling on vague memories of figuring out what to do next on the other purses I'd made.

After the sporadic work of three days, it's finished.

   It's not stunning, but it's finished.

 (I might be inclined to do simple beading on either side of the front zipper, just to obscure that top stitching.)

 I have no idea why I was so insistent upon making the strap braided.  But.  The strap is braided.

 Also arbitrarily decided to make the back pocket open with a diagonal zipper.

 And now we see the lining, a dusky purple textured synthetic (thrifted.)

 This is the most ambitious bag interior I've made yet--there's a big dividing piece making two large pockets, with the back having two (left-over) bits of the exterior sewn in to form two smaller pockets.

And here it is with all my essential purse-ish stuff inside.  It technically fits.  I'll play around with arrangement, and maybe think of making another, slightly larger purse.  Possibly.  I don't really like big purses, and I I've always used cross-body bags, so, at this point, I'm certain that I'd lose a purse instantly if it weren't strapped to my body thusly, which means I seldom find appeal in readymade purses...but...they're a lot less hassle...

Overall, though, it was nice to sew something spontaneous, even if it does mean that the Big Pile of Potential Projects didn't decrease in any way (I did do some alteration and mending from it just before starting this purse, at least.  Yay.)