Quilted purse

Worked on a quilted purse for a belated Christmas gift over the weekend.  The pattern is Simplicity 2551, but the instructions call for purchased pre-quilted fabric, which I did not have, so I made my own.  I simply layered a piece of muslin, cotton batting and my printed fabric cut larger than my pattern piece and machine quilted in a square pattern with copper metallic thread.  I don't think the quilting really stands out in the photos, but it blended in nicely with the metallic in the prints.  Once I quilted it, I pinned my pattern piece to the quilted fabric and cut everything out.  Everything I used was from my stash, so I didn't have to buy anything but the tassle I attached to the zipper pull.  Overall, I really like the purse, although next time I will definitely use a darker zipper, but off white was what I had so that's what I used.  This pattern did not call for lining the purse, but I really prefer a lined purse, so I lined with one of the same cotton prints and used some leftover hand dyed silk bias for the binding the edges.  Overall, I'm very pleased.  I really like fast quick projects and even more so when I can use up some of my stash.  And, after I finished I even cleaned out 2 drawers and one cabinet in my sewing room!  Impressed?  I am!

Butterick 5394

I used this Butterick Pattern not only as inspiration for this wrap, but also as the pattern for the top (shown in red on the pattern envelope.  Mine was made out of interlock jersey knit and I loved the blue color.  I love the way it turned out, although the neck did seem to stretch a bit, so next time I would probably use a lightweight interfacing that was not called for on the pattern. 

I love to wear it with either a turtleneck sweater underneath or a crisp white dress shirt.  I'm very pleased overall, but wish I had gone ahead and made 2 buttonholes instead of the one.  Was trying to rush my way through it!  ^&%$!!!!!!!!!!

The wrap was inspired by the gray wrap on the pattern envelope, but since I was using a reversible wool/cotton knit, I did not want to follow the pattern directions as they called for a seam across the back and I preferred to have one piece that would truly be reversible.  I decided to use a hand dyed silk bias binding to finish the edges, and simply stitched just as you would a quilt binding.  The binding was generously donated to me and I wanted to use it for something unique and this seemed to fit the bill.  I LOVE the blue and yellow tints that show up in the green binding.  If you've never tried dyeing silk, you MUST try it.  I will include instructions on that in another post. 

Normally I wouldn't wear this wrap with a belt, but instead criss-crossed under my arms.  It's like wearing a warm cozy blanket around your shoulders.  I love it, it was fast and fun to make and would make a great gift.  One side is a brown jersey wool and the green side is an ultra soft cotton jersey knit.  And basically it's a giant T shaped piece of fabric so no pattern is needed.  Another option would be to just make the shawl part of it and add a nice embroidered fabric for the piece along the back.  You could attach it with buttons and then be able to interchange fabric pieces.  Just an idea!

I really should blog more!

I've really been doing a very poor job of keeping my blog up to date.  I'm sorry.  I've been working on many small projects that I will try to photograph and get up soon.  Today I finished most of my shopping, got them all wrapped and Christmas cards signed, addressed, stamped and ready to go.  I'm so proud of myself!  I'm very jealous of my blogging friends on the east coast though.  Although I could do without the snow, it would be really nice to be snowed in and do nothing but work on sewing projects. Aahh well, I am going to do a better job of posting interesting information on sewing related things in the weeks ahead.  Don't give up on me yet! Merry Christmas!