Simplicity 2685

I don't usually make accessories. However, I wanted a new Spring purse and just couldn't find anything that I liked in the stores. Everything was so boring and drab. I wanted something with color. So I decided to turn to sewing.

I made the purse out of quilting cotton from Joann Fabrics. It took aprox. 2 1/2 yards of fabric including the outside and lining. For the interfacing, the pattern suggests canvas. I used a duckcloth (which is pretty much canvas). This gave the purse a nice crispness and stability. I also purchased four buttons and a 7 inch zipper for the inside pocket. I spent about $25 for all of the materials. OK, so this is a little more than paying what you would in a store for the same thing but I got exactly what I wanted. I also used quilting cotton that was about $8 a yard... you can definately go less expensive but I fell in love with the print.

The purse went together fast and easy. Not including cutting time, this took about 2 1/2 hours to sew.

Here's a tip that worked well for me when sewing in the zipper. The instructions have you center the zipper inside the slit made for the pocket, then top stitch on the outside. To keep the zipper in place while I stitched, I taped the zipper in place with scotch tape on the inside of the pocket. I top-stitched in place then removed the tape afterward. Here's a picture:



And here's some finished views... Check out the full reveiw on Pattern Review.





~Byrdie