Better late than never???

Sometime in January my daughter and I went to a purse party where we both picked out fabric and trim for custom made purses. It was going to be 8 weeks until we got the purses. Coming up in February a friend of the family, a college age gal, was having a birthday. I said to my daughter "HEY! I can make her a purse!" We got online and looked at patterns and fabric. I ordered a couple patterns and I ordered an assortment of Amy Butler fabrics. The birthday came and went. My son kept asking me, "did you sew her purse yet?" and I answered, "NO! not yet". I get a little testy when someone questions my procrastination. I always felt that I had other stuff that HAD to be done. Lame excuse. I know. About a month ago I finally decided which pattern to use, from Cindy Taylor Oates' Slouchy Bags book, and cut the fabric out. There it sat. This past Wednesday I felt as though my other commitments were out of the way and I sat down to sew. It came together pretty quickly and easily. Clear directions were the ticket to success here. Then I saw the blog post for 6/25 at http://www.pamkittymorning.blogspot.com/ and knew that I needed to make a similar pin to dress up the purse. (note **My daughter is the model here :D)


The next morning I had my daughter stop in town and get some buttons to cover and as soon as I covered that one, a whole new world of covering buttons opened up to me. I thought it added SO much! But I wanted to make it with a ruffle around it - I have no ruffler attachment. Thinking, thinking....so the kids suggested using two layers, so that the button would not blend with the ruffle and the ruffle would not blend with the purse (they are smart that way and I like their input). But boy oh boy what a dunce I was. I had NO IDEA how to attach the ruffle TO the button! I dinked around with it for quite a bit, trying different things that didn't work. I finally settled on gluing it, putting a thin strip of Zip Dry glue around the back edge of the button that was covered with fabric. Then I pushed the ruffle on there and fussed with it until it was just how I wanted it. THEN I put something very heavy on top of it all and left it to dry for a bit. I am not sure how secure it is and how long it will last. I used a safety pin on the inside of the purse to attach the button and so it can be easily removed. We presented it to our friend on Thursday afternoon and she really likes it!!! Guess what I found out on Thursday night. No, really, guess. Go ahead.



I found out that I had PERFECT directions on how to make a ruffle and attach it to a self covered button right there on my sewing table! Yeah, I know. Better Homes & Garden 'Quilts and More' Summer 2008. Detailed instructions. No need for me to reinvent the wheel. You can roll your eyes now. I did. I will use their directions next time.