Wednesday 15 August 2012

Fold-Up Purse Bags Finished

Well, almost - mine isn't finished yet - more on that later.





high heeled shoes






I used this tutorial for the idea. Her instructions are clear and easy to follow. I made some changes though to suit me.
1. All seams are encased here - no raw or serged or zig-zagged edges. They are all french seams.
2. I used corded elastic (like elastic string) as my elastic. There were pros and cons; pros it looks good and I was going for aesthetics here; cons it is thick and sort of hard to sew through.
3. I put a small bit of interfacing behind the button when I sewed it on for a little added strength.

Some process pictures:



gap where I inserted corded elastic; back-stitched each side


french seams pressed open before turning around and stitching again

press, press everything

cording inserted


clipped corners during french seam construction

How I pressed out the points at the bottom of the bag; this thing has a real name - maybe a point presser - it's used in dressmaking. I found this in the sewing room and it looks like my Grandpa or Dad made it for my Grandma. My mom doesn't sew so I've now claimed it for myself.

more pressed seams

handle insertion seam 1

handle insertion seam 2 - I turned the handles towards the top of the bag and backstitched over them

Now, the reason my own bag isn't complete is that I have another project I need to work on tomorrow. I'm going to try to draft my own pattern for a bra - if it works I'll just tell you it did. If it doesn't work, then I need to go see my bra teacher for help and since I'll be back to work soon, this project takes precedent over everything else.