Showing posts with label purse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label purse. Show all posts

Martha Stewart and Joan Rivers Can't be Wrong

Roll your eyes if you must but Martha knows comedy (at least she can handle comedy being conducted in her general proximity, as long as it's tidy).

Even if you aren't a die-hard Martha fan, you're going to want to catch her and Joan Rivers crafting together. It's just that good!


And here's the Marc Jacobs clutch they were recreating with felt and a glue gun. 

Take a minute to process that; remake Marc Jacobs with felt and a glue gun?

I'm no fashionista, but as a sister to and mother of  2 girls with the fancy gene I can tell you that this is probably wrong. And yet, it's sooo right.This purse was made to be remade.

But I'm not entirely in love with the results of this craft session gone astray.

 
My four year old would be thrilled by the felt hearts, but I'm not taking/toting this anytime soon.

So without further ado: my own "Love Story Clutch."

Step 1). If you have some spare pleather lying around in fanciful colors you can start by crafting yourself a basic clutch, any size and shape you like will work. I found this great turquoise purse for about $2. Cutting apart an old purse saves you the trouble of finding the zippers and other important purse parts.

If you're crafting your own clutch from scratch, skip to the bottom, otherwise stay with me.
 

Step 2). Get out your seam ripper and pull out any unnecessary seams and decoration. I was able to salvage the original zipper and the nice casing that connects to the sides of the bag for a finished look.
 

Step 3). Since this bag had a solid backside and only a little bit of white trim on the front, I was able to remove the front stripe, cut the original height of the bag in half and get a clean surface to make my clutch. The only remaining work was to reinsert the original zipper.


 

With any luck, you should wind up with a clutch that looks roughly like this bellow.

  

Step 4). Go back to all the pieces you disassembled from your original purse. You should have plenty of material to start cutting some large hearts to cover your bag in. Use a template to trace the hearts out for consistency.


A Majority of the fabric I had leftover was turquoise. 

  

 But I wanted more colors because the original bag had a great mix of texture and tone.

Step 5). Get out your craft paint and paint some of your hearts in varying shades to match your clutch. Leave some hearts their original color*.


 


*Tip: I mix paint when I've finished with one batch of hearts by adding the new paint to my original color. This keeps your hearts mostly within the same color family or tone so everything is well coordinated.

Step 6). Let painted hearts dry then begin playing with different arrangements on the clutch. If you'd like the hearts to be more stiffly adhered to the clutch, glue around the edges. For a more playful texture, glue hearts in the center only. It's already a remake of a remake, you can have fun with it. I promise I won't tell Martha.


I'll be guest posting this tutorial over at Mine For The Making Sunday the 13th. Stop on by and say hello. 



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Le Pâtisserie Playset Continued and Another Giveaway! UPDATED

 Remember these?

 

And what about this? What does it match anyway?

 


Voila!

Our newly completed French Bakery hanging playset!

Complete with salivating poodle, ice cream soda, cupcakes, madelines, macaroons, croissants, Eifel Tower, and cherries galore.  And after nap-time there will be pictures galore of this set in action!

You may remember the doorway castle I made some time ago, it's the same principle. Take some heavy canvas and dive right in. This is a great project if you really want a fun interactive mural in your kid's room but rent or aren't sure you're that committed to French bakeries and poodles. Both is true in our case.

With a little impulse and crafty courage, you can take the plunge and finish the entire thing in a few short hours.


I think I love this sign the very most.

Just some photos of the kids having fun with their new playset. 

 


(We take signs very seriously around here)

Not to worry, there's still a GIVEAWAY!
 
I seem to get more people looking over this remake of the Anthropologie Fresh Deliveries Clutch than any other post.



Today's giveaway is a scaled version of this superb flower clutch purse. 

All you have to do is follow me, leave me a comment, let me know you're out there and you'll be entered to win today's giveaway.

Make sure to have a look at the rest of the French Bakery Playset and visit my other giveaways  this week for your chance to win other neat and crafty things.

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Uglier Coin Purse Remake

The first coin purse I remade at the beginning of this week wasn't really ugly to start with. It was plain and lacked personality, but as far as things go to hold your change not terrible.

Today's remake is from fairly awful beginnings in its former life as a cigarette pouch. I was unaware such a thing existed. But when I picked it up to see if I couldn't tear it apart for the hardware, I was told by an enthusiastic shopkeep that this was the best thing to hold my smokes in, there's even a side pouch for the lighter. Rockin!


 This is the original (terrible) pleather "cigarette purse"

But I'm no smoker. This thing had to be re-crafted into something beautiful to be rescued from it's dull dollar store life,  to be given a new start in it's non-toxic life for the new year. But this time with a visual tutorial, hurrah!


Remade to something a little lovelier

Re-crafting an Ugly Metal Framed Coin Purse to Become Something Beautiful

Materials:
Scraps of fabric large enough to get two cuts of your purse shape. One fabric for outside and one for lining (if you're into lining your purse).
One ugly "Cigarette Purse" or any other cheap metal clasp purse you fancy deconstructing.
Basics: Needle, thread, pencil paper, fabric glue and pliers

Time estimate for 1 complete coin purse: not more than 1 hour (and I hand stitch).
  

Step 1). Tear our this pleather material and begin to CAREFULLY ply open the metal clasps of the purse frame. *As this is a relatively cheap frame from a Dollar Store, this is either a pretty easy step where the metal just opens up or the material of the frame is so ridiculously strong that you are wasting your time and should pony up for a new frame. This hardware cost me about $.50 and and a few minutes of fiddling with the metal.


Step 2). Sketch out a rough shape that you like. I enjoy life without actual patterns, if it makes you nervous to think of all that design freedom, Google some images you'll find tons of coin purse shapes.



Step 3). Trace this shape onto lining and outside fabric ( two from each fabric) with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.


Step 4). Two ways to go ahead. 

a).If you are an expert with purse liners, stitch together the lining and outside fabrics separately to be assembled inside the pouch. 

b). If you're in a hurry, you can pin all four fabric layers together right sides facing in and stitch around all piece. REMEMBER you only stitch until the point where your metal clasp will begin to touch the fabric on either side (you might want to mark this spot now).

Step 5). There is an exceptional tutorial at the Purl Bee that will teach you how to finish the clasp of your purse (and also tempt you to buy $50 worth of a coin purse kit with Liberty of London fabric). Go to the tutorial, it is concise and fairly self-explanatory.

 

Step 6). Voila! You have a lovely little coin purse that probably didn't cost you more than a few bucks in materials and an hour of your time. 

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Does Every Penny Count ? Ugly Coin Purse gets a Makeover

I've come to notice that in the US, coins have been nearly eradicated. Here in Israel (Europe as well) our coins are worth actual money. I can easily pay for the bus, a cab, a carton of milk or even leave a tip at a restaurant all in coins.

On a recent visit to Chicago I made a purchase for $4.67. I handed the clerk a $5 bill as well as the $.67 in change to get back a single $1 bill. The man looked positively befuddled. I thought I was making his job easier. I've learned that nobody would throw and handful of coins at their barista's tip jar, I was told by people in the know that anything not a bill is rude. I doubt any cashier would have the patience to count  a handful of coins to pay for a latte.  I even saw a home clean-up show where the family found a small fortune in forgotten change behind furniture and in the couch cushions, enough money to open a checking account for their college bound teen.

So I just have to wonder, doesn't anybody know that these coins are still worth money? Maybe in these difficult economic times people have started holding on to their nickles and dimes.

Here's a good project to remind you to hold onto your change. 

 

This is the old (ugly) coin purse from the (sort of) Dollar Store.

All I wanted was the metal hardware from inside this pinch closure coin purse. The style reminds me of the change purses  my great-uncle used to carry around as he paid for all purchases exclusively with coins. Ever been to a drive-through with a senior citizen who refuses to speak English but demands to pay in change? Priceless.


Here's the finished and fully lined remake of the coin purse.



As you can see, your bills fit when folded in quarters so it's good for traveling light.


Here's me demonstrating the pinch-to open feature, no coins sneaking out here. 

This useful attribute is already making my thrifty purchase and remake worthwhile. Just as I turned to leave the store where I found bought the old coin purse, the handful of change I had received came pouring out of my wallet as I tossed it in my purse. It seems my toddler has been busy at work pulling the stitching from the coin pocket, adorable. 

Gee thanks kids!
Quick Instructions:
1). Measure two outside fabrics and two lining fabrics to slightly larger than the width of the hardware and as tall as you like* (to fit a credit card in this pouch I would need to make the final dimensions taller). 

2). Pin the edges of the lining and the outside fabric together with wrong sides facing inward. Stitch securely around three edges leaving the top totally open. 

3). Turn your fabric right side out (press if you're into that sort of thing) and insert your hardware inside the pouch. You can choose one of the following methods to finish. 

A). Insert the metal between your lining and outer fabric to later top-stich the top and secure the metal with a running stitch to finish (make sure to only stitch through a single side of the pouch at a time or you will close off your entire pouch). 
 OR

B). Place the hardware inside the the pouch and fold the top of your fabric inward to cover the metal. Topstitch to secure and finish. I would have chosen this method for ease if I had enough of the outside fabric but it was an up-cycled scrap that couldn't accommodate the extra inch fold. 


The project pretty much explains itself. If you're lost, drop me a line, I'll try to help

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