Friday, July 25, 2014

What can I do with this?


When I was going through my fabric stash looking for likely victims candidates for the self round robin, I came along this old piece which was a "failed" deconstructed silk screen on linen. The fabric was so scrumptious and the pale colors so appealing That I had hung on to it thinking there might be a place for it in my life one day. 

I badly needed a new purse and if I folded this is half it was just about the perfect size. Hum...let me see. There were bits of these colors.  


So I decided to thermofax screen some ginkgo leaves in all three colors.


This is an old thermofax screen I had made by Lyric Kinard 



Now I need a lining fabric. I think mint green is one of the ugliest colors ever created!! BUT, I needed a light colored fabric so my old eyes could actually see inside the purse, plus I had it in my stash so....


Fabric trimmed square, horrible green about to be trimmed to size and a binding color needed to be chosen. Second from top I think!


Yes


Heavy quilting done. This is just so relaxing to do.


Quilting on lining side.


I stitched it up with my new Baby Lock Eclipse which I bought myself for living through chemo and radiation. It threads itself by vacuuming the thread through the lower loopers. Be still my heart!!

I made the box seam on the bottom then...


Cut, ironed, folded, and ironed in half both the binding and the handle fabric


I cut a half inch wide strip of warm and nature cotton batting for inside the handle for heft, strength, and a dense surface for stitching.


 Binding was attached with the cut edge (top) of the purse like binding on a quilt. I started the binding with about 4" unattached so that at the end I could get a perfect fit. You can see the seam in the center top edge of the picture.

After ironing the seam open, I stitched it down with a double row of stitching.


Now the handles could be attached.


I also tacked the "corners" of the box shape to keep the purse square and not so floppy.


Done






 I was out of magnetic snaps so I just ordered them from ebay. I usually use the poke through kind. I have various ways of hiding the metal plate on the outside but


This time I also ordered some sew in kind. First I will use some E6000 fabric adhesive then stitch them down as well.


Snaps in with stitch and E6000


11 comments:

  1. So great to see the go to woah on a whole piece. From interesting fabric to beautiful finished (and useful!) article.

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  2. what an amazing transformation and such a beautiful bag. Well done :)

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  3. It is amazing how we can sometimes transform an un appealing fabric into something scrumptious! It's beautiful now.

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  4. Beth, That transformation was amazing. Wow! Love that bag and your quilting is beautiful.

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  5. Just beautiful , the addition of the leaves and your quilting has really set this off , love your bag !

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  6. Love it! I need to get busy and have some leaf screens made... the ginko shape is great, and the colors you used are wonderful! Lots of inspiration here...

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  7. Your transformation from interesting fabric to fabulous bag is amazing. Thanks for the step by step photos.
    BTW, I LOVE ginkgoes! I may have to borrow this idea.

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  8. So great to see the stages of the transformation... I love the Ginkgos, too :) Very inspiring!

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  9. Wonderful bag. Beautiful colors. What great inspiration. Thanks for sharing.

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  10. amazing...love what you did with the ginkgos and the stitching

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  11. Once again you proved that there is no ugly fabric, just fabric waiting for something extra :-)

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