Chic Handbags

I bought this book...hmm, at least a year ago, probably almost two. I buy a lot of sewing books. I love to have a wealth of knowledge at my fingertips. I was a little hesitant because some of the reviews were not favorable on Amazon.com, but in the end I figured, what the heck?

Personally, I'm enjoying this book! I like to have handbags for different looks. My one note of caution is that some of these purses are really small. I used to love small purses. They kept me from being to cluttery. However, with having four children and needing an assortment of stuff, I find that I need at least a medium sized bag.

This was the book that I used to help my sister inlaw's make their purses last month. Here are some photo's of the finished products:

The picture on the left, with the plaid print, is my favorite. In the book, this is the "Loves me, loves me not" pattern. We made a matching cosmetic bag to go with it (not pictured) that was a lot of fun too. Those round handles though, are a BEAR to sew in. Also, I wish I would have thought to have sewn in some pockets, but I didn't. She didn't seem to mind, but I like to have a pocket for my cell phone so it doesn't get lost in my bag. Personal preference. The only thing I would change if/when I make this style for me is that I will line it and add a cell phone pocket. Because this was made from a home dec fabric, it really was quite stable. But I liked purses to be lined.

I'm not as crazy about the polka dotted purse, which is a shame, because that one is actually mine. (for some reason, I don't have a picture of the purse my other sister inlaw made, go figure.) I think it's the handles. I thought I would like having real handles. I don't know, they just don't work for me. This was the "Summer Stripe" bag. They had several cute accessories to coordinate with this one including a detachable pocket, which I didn't make this time.

One of the biggest changes I made to this one was to fuse a heavy stabilizer to the body of the purse and add a wallet and cell phone pocket to the liner.

Since these were both quilting fabrics, I really felt the bag needed a heavy stabilizer to give it some body. One thing I noted in this book is that they assume everyone is going to use heavier fabrics. So make a mental check note that if you're using light weight fabrics, you're going to need some stabilizer. There are some excellent notes at the beginning of the book for stabilizing pocket corners too, so take some time read the helpful hints.

Here's a picture of the actual bag:

I don't know, it just needs something more. I think the handles look to small as well. I bought the size indicated and they look fine on the picture in the book - but I think they look freakishly small on this bag. Joann's had very little in selection when it came to purse handles though, so I make look online to see what else I can come up with.

I finished up a lovely apple green t-shirt from a back issue of Ottobre Woman, but I haven't had a chance to photograph it yet. I'll try to get it posted soon!