Wednesday, March 27, 2013

New purse in town

The two Potato Chip bags I made last Fall inspired me to create another one for everyday use as a purse.

This one is bigger than the pattern calls for, and I really enjoyed playing with the details to make it just the purse for me.  I knew I wanted patchwork on the flap, so I started by cutting strips of fabric.

After sewing them together, I cross cut them into strips, and then sewed them back together seminole style.

The piece I used for the purse flap was cut from the center as you can see above.  It seemed a shame to waste the leftovers, so I sewed them together and made another patchwork piece for the back pocket.

The patchwork was going to be the only colorful part of the bag, but I didn't have enough of the dark blue batik to make the entire body of the purse, so I added the light blue fabric and a strip of pink piping to the bottom.
As Tim Gunn would say, I had to "Make it Work!"

When the bag is open, there is a pocket under the flap for my cell phone. I wanted to make the pocket out of the same fabric as the body of the bag, but again, I ran into the problem of not enough blue batik.  I ended up deconstructing some of the leftover patchwork to get enough blue fabric for the pocket.  I think you can see that it is made up of strips.


I put a buttonhole on the cell phone pocket for a bit of security.  Inside the handbag, are two zippered pockets, a flap pocket, a pen slot and a little D-ring to hold a spare key.




For the handles, I found one more use for the last scraps of the seminole patchwork.  I cut it into narrow strips and pieced the strips together.

I wanted the strap to be adjustable but I couldn't find the right hardware anywhere.  I ended up sacrificing an old handbag and stealing the hardware from that to use for the new purse.





Creating a pocketbook with details "just for me" was a lot of fun, and I've been using it for a couple of months now.  A great way to brighten up the gray winter.

Toby's version of "photobombing"

Here's a question for you.  Do you call it a "purse", a "handbag" or a "pocketbook"?  I used all three in this blog post.  I grew up saying "pocketbook"  (or "pockabook"), but now I say "purse".  Is it a regional thing?


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5 comments:

  1. It is a gorgeous bag with nice details! I think it is a regional thing. I've never said "pocketbook" in my life, but I've heard it before. I've noticed another regional difference: what do you call the object in which you can carry water? A bucket or a pail? I'm a pail girl, ha ha.

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  2. Hello Aunti Em, here in England we call your wallet a purse and a bag with a short handle is a handbag. if your bag has a shoulder strap, we would call a shoulder bag. Your tote bag is a shopping bag here.
    I love it that your bag had lots of separate places to hold your essentials.

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  3. Love your pocketbook! I love all the little accessories you added inside. As you can see, I call it a pocketbook! It doesn't really matter. My mom always said it in Italian so they're all interchangeable terms to me!

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  4. I say purse but my grandmother and aunts said pocketbook. You make the cutest things! Love the diagonal patchwork.

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  5. I love the colours and the changes you made just for you are great - especially the extra key! I say purse, my mother, grandmother, etc said pocketbook. I don't know why they called it a pocket book. It won't fit in your pocket and it's not a book.... hmmmm. Might be a regional thing. I'm an Ottawa Valley girl who now lives in BC. There are so many people from other places that I've heard it called handbag by some.

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