( This, by the way, is post number 500 !)
FIRST: THRIFT A PURSE
I think that the funky, bright, over-sized, bling bling purse craze must be coming to a close. The thrift store racks are full of them. I wanted to make a reasonable-sized but on-the-small-size camera bag to carry a new camera I bought which is smaller than the one I have been using for many years. I wanted to bag to be unable to become heavy because there was room for only my camera and a couple of lenses.
At the thrift store, I held two bags in front of me. Both were bright and in very good condition and both had fabric linings. These were all criteria for my selection. Oh. And both were $3.99 and because it was Senior Day, another 30% would be taken from the marked price. The red purse had a huge leather flower on the front but even I decided it was too much.
I chose the green one. I thought it would make a perfect camera bag. It had nice, wide straps. It was in perfect condition. The inside lining would be easy to sew through.
MAKE A BAG FOR THE LINING
I already had this wonderful fabric. I made an inverted bag which was generously full once inside of the purse.
MAKE THE LINING A FEW INCHES WIDER THAN THE OPENING
If the lining is a little wider than the mouth of the purse, you do have to work the fabric in so that when you are finished there is a gathered look at the top. The extra fabric takes the pressure off of the top of the bag when things are put inside. If the lining was very tight, and fit the bag perfectly, it would likely pull out the stitches that have been used to sew the lining in.
USE A BLIND STITCH
Knowing how to sew a blind stitch is one of the most helpful sewing tips. You can fix, mend, create and hide things with a blind stitch. In this case I arranged the lining so that it was evenly distributed around and in the bag and pinned it in four places. Then, I sewed the clean, top edge of the lining onto the top of the existing lining. The original lining was a satin, so it was very easy to sew the cotton lining to the satin lining. It didn’t matter if the gathers were perfect or not. Most of the gathering of the extra fabric takes place on each side. The curved tops of each side of the purse are barely gathered.
ADD SOME PERSONALITY
I have a stash. Now and then I pick up trinkets and embellishments when they are being marked down or closed out. That was the case with both of the trinkets I have added to my new camera bag. The little girl was designed to be a zipper-pull and so she hooked right on to the zipper.
WHY BE ORDINARY?
I saw some beautiful bags at the thrift store that I thought would make wonderful diaper bags. Of course, I have no need of a diaper bag but that doesn’t mean that I couldn’t make one . . . for fun.
“God gives no linen, but flax to spin.”
-German Proverb-