Red, White, and Blue Purse

This is the purse I made for the Red, White, and Blue purse challenge on the Bags to Brag About yahoo group I belong to.  It's pretty modest compared to most of the purses the others make, but I like it!  I saw a photo of a purse that had a peek-a-boo hole in it.  I thought that maybe I would be able to do it too, and this was the perfect opportunity to try.  Unless you know it's there though, it's kind of hard to pick up in the pictures.

I have some applique star machine embroidery designs that were freebies, and came in graduated sizes.  You can go to the website here and join her yahoo group if you're interested. I chose two different sizes.  The applique on the body of the purse is slightly larger than the hole on the top flap.  That way, I have a little "fudge" room.  Not only does that help me because the one on the flap doesn't have to be in perfect alignment, but it also helps when there is actual stuff in the purse.

I simply appliqued the star on the body of the purse as I would normally do before I had the purse completely together.  (I did have to wait until I was almost ready to put the lining in to sew it on so that I could decide where to place it.)  After the purse was totally put together I was able to determine where the hole in the flap should go.  I printed a template of the smaller star off using just normal paper.  Then, I cut out the star and used a pin and a fabric marker to show me where to sew the other applique design.  If you are going to try this, remember to use the same color thread in your bobbin, because you are going to see it!  I embroidered the first two steps of the design through all thicknesses, and then instead of adding the applique fabric, I simply cut away all the layers of fabric inside the shape, being careful not to cut so close to the lines that there wasn't fabric to finish with the satin stitch. With a star shape this wasn't too difficult, because it's hard to get into all those points anyway!  When I had the hole cut out, I simply finished embroidering the design, and voila!

I love the look, but I did learn some things for future purses:
1. The purse really should be larger to accommodate the hole.
2. It would be better if the purse was wider.
3. In this particular pattern the zipper is at the top of the flap, so putting a hole in the flap greatly limited the opening of the purse.

Since this purse is rather small, my plan is to use it for shopping trips when I really don't want to haul a big heavy purse around.  In some ways, I like the fact that the opening is small because that means it's more secure too.  Certainly nothing is going to fall out!!  As an after thought, I also decided to put a pocket on the flap.  The pocket is pretty small, but still big enough for keys or lip gloss.  I used velcro across the entire top of the pocket because I remembered that while I'm carrying it the pocket will be upside down!! Next time I will plan better, and I will be able to put a larger pocket on.  Oh well.....at least I did learn a few things in the process!

Even better.....the people who posted their projects on the group got their names put in a random drawing for prizes and I WON!!  I couldn't get anyone to tell me what I had won, but the mailman brought me a book yesterday - Hip Handbags by Valerie Van Arsdale Shrader.  It's pretty interesting because it has some artsy techniques and also some interestingly shaped purses in it.  I think I'll skip the one made out of chicken wire though!  And for the record......No......I'm not going back to see if I can get some blue leather and red sheep wool!

Gratitude for:
-Good surprises in the mail
-Carryout Chinese food
-Good books that make me laugh, make me think, and teach me new things