Silver purse

This purse was intended to be taken on a trip last week to Cincinnatti to see our friends that moved there last summer.  I was rushing and things were not going well.  Finally, I had to just leave it and use an old purse.

Not like I didn’t have anything to use, you know. 😉

I picked it up again on Monday, and took my time to figure out how to fix the mistakes I made in the initial foray.  This is made out of a silver marine vinyl, which isn’t the best “fabric”.  I had purchased it for a costume, and didn’t end up using it.  I needed just a plain silver purse a few times this summer, so time to use it up for something.

The purse is a pretty simple one, with boxed bottom corners and a fold over top.

Attaching the handles was a huge pain due to the thickness.  I hand-cranked my machine through the layers, so it would not damage the timing.  After putting the handles on they looked pretty plain.  I decided to just put one side of some silver post snaps I had.  Well, that didn’t work.  It was too thick.  Too late to back out, as I already put holes in the fabric for the snaps, so I just pounded down on the lip of the post, so it went over the fabric a little bit.  I think with hard use they will fall out, but I don’t plan on this purse for daily use.

Another thing that happened when using my leather punch to put in holes for the snap posts, was that I accidentally got the body of the bag.  I had a hole.  Great.  I decided to put in a design with rivets.  My initial!

The main strap was probably the easiest part of dealing with the vinyl.  I attached the ends together when they were through the rings, folded them over so they met in the middle, and then sewed them down.  It made for a nice finish to the handle.

The inside just has some simple pockets.  I used some stiff interfacing for the lining and the pockets.

I finished it off with a magnetic snap backed with heavy interfacing for support.

I rather like how this turned out.  I used a leather needle and teflon foot to make it.

Now I need a plain black leather bag.  I am still working on how I want to make that one.  Pinterest is, yet again, a great source of inspiration.  There are tons of ideas on there, so now I need to narrow them down.  I shouldn’t need to buy any supplies, so at least I have that going for me!