Purse with Hungarian Style Embroidery Part 2

 This is the second of a three part series on constructing this purse accented with Hungarian style embroidery.  The first part discussed the embroidery.  With that done, we are ready to move on to assembling the outer shell of the handbag.

Before sewing the front band back together, it is best to add the attachment points for the handles.  This is where I got in trouble for changing the materials used.  The pattern calls for attachment points shaped like a bottle.

The idea is that you sew two of these together and then turn it right side out for a clean, finished look.  The only problem is that when I tried this, I got this Epic Fail:

It was clear that a completely different solution was required, but keeping the same general size and shape was required to keep the purse looking balanced.  I made little straps by cutting a 12" by 2" strip from the blue fabric.  This got folded lenghwise down middle, then the edges got folded in.  Add edge stitching on both sides and you have a nice narrow strap, very much like a belt loop.  This was then cut into 4 pieces 3" long.  Then I cut 1.5" squares from the left over heavy interfacing I used for the main body of the purse and 2" squares of the blue fabric.  The blue fabric was wrapped around the interfacing and the strap and D-ring added.  Here's one ready to stitch:

I sewed around the whole square once to that it would hold together as a unit, then I attached it to the purse front and back, stitching over the first stitching and giving it an X pattern for extra strength.  The D-ring loop is secured by the X stitching, too.

The magnetic snaps that hold together the top of the bag at the ends should be added next, and then the front and back can be sewn together.  At this point, it starts to look like a purse.

The handles aren't attached until later, but they can be prepared now.  As with the D-ring attachment points, the pattern's plan of making a narrow tube and then inverting it wasn't going to work, particularly with interfacing in the handles.  I constructed the handles in much the same way as the straps for the D-rings.  The two sides of the handles are different colors.  The first step is to sew the two sides together long one edge.  Then, fold in 5'8" on each side and stitch.  Here's a picture of folding in the seam allowance and pressing.

Here's the handles, all pinned up and ready to be top stitched on edges.

Finally, the handles, all stitched.

You could certainly stop here, but decorative stitching can be so much fun and many machines have quite a selection of built in stitches to choose from.  The handles, with two layers of fabric and interfacing are a good base for all kinds of decorative stitching.  I chose a floral pattern, to keep the theme from the embroidery.  I also used thread from the embroidery to tie it together with color.  I used orange on top and red in the bobbin.  Stitching on the blue side, the finished product looks like this:

Be sure to catch part 3 of this series, where I construct the lining and finish the purse.

Purse With Hungarian Style Embroidery Part 1

Purses are a fun accessory.  One nice thing about making them is that unlike clothes, they don't have to be fitted.  Pattern alterations are never necessary.  However, there are lots of fun changes you can make to a basic pattern to better suit your taste or intended use.

This purse was made using McCall's 7369.  I mostly used View A, but there were some pretty extensive modifications to the pattern.  The pattern calls suggests that the purses be made of pre-quilted fabrics, with lightweight cotton fabrics as contrast.  I've had good success making purses from microsuede.  This 100% polyester fabric is fairly easy to work with, quite tough, and best of all, goes through the laundry well.  We all know that purses end up in all kinds of places and can pick up some pretty nasty stuff.  Would it be nice to just toss them in the washing machine periodically?  With some care in choosing materials, that's very possible.  This purse is made with dark green and contrasting dark blue microsuede.  The lining is polyester/cotton broadcloth, a remarkably tough material.

Rather than use a decorative band of contrasting material, I chose to decorate the purse with embroidery.  With the right stabilizer, microsuede can take even rather dense embroidery designs.  I chose the Zala Flower Spray from Embroidery Library in the 9" x 4" size.  This size allows the design to be nicely centered on each side of the purse.

I used a 100% sized print of the design to select the exact location for the embroidery.  It's not centered on the panel.   I placed the attachment points for the handles on the piece before selecting the where to put the embroidery.  Particularly in the contrasting fabric, the attachment points reduce the apparent height of the purse.   

Selection of the embroidery thread is important to the success of the project.  Traditional Hungarian embroidery uses fairly bright, saturated colors.  I chose to use red, yellow, and orange matching the recommendations from Embroidery Library.  However, the purple and blue had to be just a shade lighter so they'd contrast well with the background.  The greens had to go a lot lighter than the original design.  I like to collect all of the threads together and lay them as a group on the fabric in natural light to see how well they work together.

For an embroidery like this, a proper stabilizer is critical.  Done properly, the stabilizer can also act as an interfacing for the whole purse.  Previously, I'd used a nice cut away stabilizer for applications like this, but stabilizers don't generally come in wide enough widths to be the interfacing for a purse this large.  I found a craft weight sew-in interfacing that was the right weight.  Using the interfacing as the embroidery stabilizer does help bond the two, a real advantage.  

Here's the machine, all ready to start the embroidery.  All the thread spools are lighted up in order, ready for thread changes.

In Part 2, I'll show you how the embroidered pieces got crafted into a purse shell and Part 3 will show the lining and finishing.

Lizards, Anyone? A Simple T-Shirt

JoAnn Fabric has these lovely knit fabrics in the juvenile section.  They are perfect for T-shirts.  I saw this blue print with green lizards and decided I needed it.

The fabric is a 100% cotton summer weight knit.  I supposed they figured that this would be perfect for little boys, but why should they have all the fin clothes?  I made a shirt sized for myself.

I used Kwik-Sew 3766 for the pattern.  It has options for sleeve length and neckline.  This shirt was made with the higher neckline and short sleeves.  This pattern is one of my patterns that I return to again and again: a solid pattern for a wardrobe staple.

The pattern calls for 1 1/8 yards for a short sleeve shirt.  I've found that often isn't quite enough, so I buy 1 1/4 yards of fabric for this shirt.  The front and back must be cut before the sleeves, because the fabric has to be folded differently to cut out the sleeves.

Stretch is great in a knit shirt, but not on the should seams.  Adding some non-stretchy material, like this hem tape, to the should seams helps the garment to maintain it's shape.

The neckline seam is the hardest one in the whole shirt.  The neck band is smaller than the neck hole, so it needs to be stretched evenly all the way around.  Using lots of pins to distribute the fullness equally, then stretching the fabric slightly as you sew the seam does the trick.

I've tried a bunch of different way to hem a T-shirt without a serger.  The one I like best is to use a knit or stretch stitch to finish the edge of the fabric, then fold up the hem and sew it in place with a straight stitch.

There you have it -- an easy and colorful addition to your wardrobe, perfect for warmer temperatures and more casual summer dressing.

Too Cute Pink Dress

Welcome to Fun with a Sewing Machine!  I've been sewing for more years than I care to admit to, making mostly clothing and accessories.  Sewing is a great way to have fun and express your creativity.  This blog explore all kinds of ways to have way too much fun with a sewing machine.

Some friends of mine recently had a baby girl.  There's a ton of cute patterns for infants and most of them are for girls.  I selected McCall's 6015.  I bought some incredibly cute pink flowered fabric at  Bear Patch Quilting during a recent trip to Minnesota.

Here's the fabric, ready to be cut.  For some of the pieces, I traced them before cutting.  For children's 
patterns, they grow so fast that you might want to make the same dress later in a larger size. The skirt 
pieces are just rectangles and could be folder to the right size.  The bodice pieces and sleeves got traced.

With fabric this busy, I opted to omit the optional decorative touches in the pattern.

I chose to make the dress like view C, mostly because I liked the unusual sleeves, shown here upside down.  The pattern called for the sleeves to be lined, but I thought that was silly and just finished the bottom edge with a narrow hem.  What's the fun in always following the pattern directions?

Here's the finished dress.  It's got a back zipper, back tie, and sleeves.  The bodice is lined.

Have fun with your sewing machine today!