Crossbody Book Purse inspired by Rachel

My daughter-in-law once told me her preferences for a purse are that it have a long strap for a crossbody position, and that it zips closed. I thought I would try a crossbody as well and came up with the following tutorial.  My wish is that you use it for personal sewing or gifts, fundraisers or group instruction. If you wish to share a photo of one that you’ve made, I’d love to see it! Please don’t sell my idea as your own.

Prepare the book. In choosing a book I look for something decorative on the front cover, like the trees in my example, or a meaningful title. Carefully cut out the book pages from the endpapers and spine.

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Open the book covers flat and measure the finished size you will need. Add a hem allowance on all four sides, then cut out and hem. It is helpful at this point to use your iron to make the hems before sewing, and check for accurate sizing.

Next cut two strips of fabric for the zipper facing. Each should be the total length of the 3 open sides, plus a seam allowance. This may be an opportunity to use wide bias tape. Calculate the width so that the finished tape/zipper/tape is greater than the depth of the spine, so that there is more room for the contents. I checked through my zipper stash and decided on two shorter zippers that would meet in the middle.

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If using two zippers, mark the center of the strips and overlap the zipper tapes to meet there, giving the smallest possible opening. *Design flaw – or not – I ended up with a purse whose zipper opening faces downward. It may prove to be too awkward, I don’t know. I plan to make a revised version too.

Sew the zipper(s) to the tapes. Press the seams away from the zipper and topstitch close to the zipper. If there is tape extending past the end of the zipper, stitch the fabric together.

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In my example, the spine measured 1 1/4 inches. I wanted the purse to be 3 inches wide along the center, tapering to 1 1/2 inches where it meets the spine. Mark the seam lines on the wrong side of zipper/tape piece.

Lay the cover facing piece right side up, and place the zipper/tape piece right side down over top on one of the shorter sides, as shown in the pictures. Make the centers match, and arrange it so that your stitching will echo the topstitched hem on the facing piece, then stitch.

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Make a corner and continue with the two pieces at the end of the zipper(s), again matching the seam marking to the previous topstitching. Mark where the spine of the book cover folds, as you will not stitch past that mark.

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Open the zipper(s). Lay the zipper/tape piece along the rest of the facing piece, right sides together, and stitch around making square corners, and ease to fit if you need to. Turn right side out and check the fit.

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Before gluing the facing piece into the hardcover, choose your strap and how it will attach. I looked through my assortment of odd handles, hardware, belts and scarves, and chose this: a faux suede scarf, two plastic rings, and grosgrain ribbon. I tucked the ends of the scarf through the rings and stitched, then the same with the ribbon. The length was plenty for a crossbody strap.

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Spread glue over the inside cover of the book. I placed the ribbons in the spine portion, then added more glue on top. This is the time to make sure you don’t twist the strap, keep it straight.

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Place the fabric purse on one side of book cover, keeping the hemmed edges at the edges of the book. Carefully fold over the book to the other side of the fabric, again matching the edges of the fabric with the edges of the book.

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I had a book just the right size to fit inside the book purse. I added weight to the top of it and left it alone until the glue was dry. When I presented it to Rachel she loved it!

I hope this post is helpful to you, or maybe inspires you to make purses of your own.

Odd critters

I had to laugh out loud when I saw these.

Some clever someone had converted old sewing machines into tractors. Add a few bits like gears, wheels, shafts, paint a bright color, even add a decal.

We were at an old gas tractor show in Scottville, MI last July and came across these.

How Fun!

Small Bits

I worked a little bit this weekend on small bits. Sample blocks to see if I want to go further and make a whole quilt.

I’ve seen this quilt pattern  in photos on the internet. It intrigued me because I love tessellating patterns. I decided to figure out the dimensions and try it out, thinking I wanted to make it for a baby quilt for an expected grandchild.

After doing this much sewing, and the concentration it takes to keep the tiny pieces organized, I decided this little mug rug would be my only use of this pattern. I finally understand the importance of making a test block! Each jigsaw puzzle piece is 3″ by 2″, and the tiny “head” part of each puzzle piece finishes to 1/2″ by 1/2″! Too tiny for me to repeat!

A friend recently lost her husband, and wants a memory quilt made from some of his clothing. I tried describing this method to her, using denim from jeans and scraps from shirts in the centers, and she requested a sample block so she could see what I was talking about. I whipped this up this weekend. Please – don’t ask me how to figure out the size of the square that goes inside the circle. I guessed big, then cut a square of fabric progressively smaller, until I found a size that worked for me. The directions for this quilt can be found here.

Today I’m working on a tessellating star quilt, paper pieced, with only star patterned fabrics. I had started it several years ago and got frustrated with it. I have a half a baby quilt size top done, and I’ll add enough to finish a baby quilt.  No pictures yet, someday when it’s complete.

Replace as refashion

I’m feeling more like myself again and had a great thrift store shopping session last Saturday. Among my finds were two tops I could wear to work that were ready to go, no altering needed. Another is too small and there’s nothing I can do about it except get on the exercise bike and lose that weight!

Today’s post is about a repair to one shirt. I fell in love with how simple it was, a v-neck button-down white cotton shirt with lace at the cuffs and hem. When I tried it on to show my husband, he pointed out that some of the lace was coming apart.

Close up of the lace problem

I found a great rose patterned lace in my basket, which was actually a leftover from some curtains I had made about 17 years ago.

I set my serger to do a rolled hem, and I did it successfully, I might add. Sometimes I don’t notice all the steps I need to change on something. I made a rolled hem at the bottom and sides of the lace piece, pinned it right sides together with the shirt without even cutting off the old lace, and simply serged it in place. I let the serger cut off the old.

I stitched over the seam with a narrow zigzag to keep it from flipping and allow it to hang straight. I’m very pleased with the results! I didn’t have enough lace to do the cuffs also, so I just cut off and serged the ends of the sleeves. I’ll figure it out later.

My summer plans

I’ve decided something. I have a lot of clothes, many I bought at thrift stores and don’t fit exactly right, and I decided it’s time to jump in and learn to alter them. Not just taking in a seam or adding a dart, but definite repurposing and total makeovers.

As a teacher, I normally use my summers to tutor students, host educational programs, or help out with summer school, but this is a summer just for me. I’m taking a real vacation from education – no graduate classes for me or tutoring for the little ones – and honing my skills and creativity with clothing.

Every couple days I check recycledcrafts.craftgossip.com and see what ideas I can find. Then I click over to the sewing page and the quilting page. I’ve decided to do more in the recycling end, especially making new and wearable clothing out of clothing that is too short, too wide, too narrow, etc. I have a lot of raw material to work from!