Christmas Creations: A Purse (that I am in love with)

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Good Morning!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas. We did! We were actually pretty tired on Christmas day because the food from Christmas eve didn't sit well with the little guy and we were up half the night, but we didn't mind. Being tired gave us an excuse to be late and take it easy. Nothing wrong with that!

Now that Christmas is over, and everyone has received their gifts, I can start sharing my creations! My step-sister, Erin, commented on my purse a while back, saying that she liked it and I could make her one for her birthday/Christmas (she was a Christmas eve baby). It's often hard to get any ideas out her, so I was all over that one. I decided that she could handle a pretty funky bag, so I decided to dye this black and white IKEA fabric that I had on hand. This is what the undyed fabric looks like:


And this is the finished product:





I would say this bag is definitely loud, but I think Erin might love it even more than I do. The lining is made from some batik fabric I bought at Fabricland ages ago just because it was on sale and pretty. The bag is made from a pattern in Meg McElwee's Sew Liberated (link is to her blog, of the same name). I made my own purse from the pattern, but I changed some things this time. I found the strap too wide on mine, so I made it a little thinner. For the lining, instead of doing pleats like on the shell, I traced the size of the front and back panels after they were pleated, and cut pieces that size for the lining. Why? So I could add a zippered pocket, of course! There is also a small flat pocket on the right side, which you can't really see in the photos. I hate to have a purse with no pockets at all, so I hope these will do.

Also, a note on fabric dying: I used Rit concentrated liquid fabric dye for this. I also dyed a shirt, just because this fabric took minutes (literally) to dye, so it felt like a waste to just dump the pot after that. And I still have a lot of the concentrate leftover. Fabric dying is actually quite fun, and produces unique results, so I plan on doing more in the near future!

 

5 wonderful comments:

Sarah @ Scissors and a Whisk said...

Wow, that looks great! :) I wouldn't mind something like that for myself.. good job!

Erica @ Acire Adventures said...

Thanks! I was very happy with this one, and so was the recipient, which made it even better. :)

Christine said...

this is really cute! I would never have thought to dye that fabric. what a great job.

Erica @ Acire Adventures said...

Thanks, Christine! I've never been good with the colour white, I always manage to get it dirty or stained in record time. Also, I wanted a more exciting colour for my colourful step-sister. So that's why it ended up orange!

Crafts a la Mode said...

I love this bag and the fabric!!!! Gorgeous!