New Purse

One day I swear I will sew the perfect purse for me - until then I just keep trying. My latest is a freebie from Swoon Pattern Company, The Laney Reversible Hobo. I have sewn a few Swoon patterns and they are all well drafted and well written.

Now of course with my hubris I just had to add a few details. I did not want a reversible purse. I also wanted at least one inside and one outside pocket. I swear every purse I own is like a black hole in outer space. My keys and cell phone enter only to be never seen again without quite a bit of searching.

I did see from other reviews that others have not made the purse reversible. I was also not crazy about the ties on the top. I thought why not put magnetic snaps into the purse. In actual use I rarely close the top of a purse. I am lucky that I do not really walk on busy crowded streets where a thief could reach into to steal things out of an open purse.

The first change was to make pockets, see the circled area below. I used the bottom portion of the bag front to make a shorter version to attach. I should have made the pocket taller than I did. It will hold my keys in the outside pocket but it does not feel like the most secure place to put my keys. The height of the pocket was also limited by a lack of fabric.

Clever readers might recognize the fabrics used in this project. The outer layer was leftover from a skirt and the inner layer was leftover from a knitting bag project. I am happy to report I have no more of either of these fabrics left in the collection.

Then I moved onto the magnetic snaps. I had purchased square magnetic snaps years ago. I have had them sitting in the my notions collection ever since. These are quite large snap items.

Note to self - remember your sewing machine is all metal. It was a little difficult when I tried to sew onto the bag lining. They adhered themselves to my metal machine and really did not want to budge. In the end I hand sewed them onto the lining.

This was also not quite as easy as you might image. Newsflash - sewing needles are metal too! I am using this as the reason the hand sewing looks like something who just finished a 3 martini lunch did the job.

After all of that and checking and rechecking the polarization of the magnets they do not actually hold it closed. The magnets seemed to adhere more strongly to my sewing machine and hand sewing needles than they do to each other.

The inside pocket is also not quite deep enough to actually hold anything - again a lack of enough fabric to make taller. My cell phone does not like the pocket and refuses to stay inside of it when placed.

Despite these set backs it is really quite a nice purse. The strap is the perfect length for me. When placed on my shoulder to carry it stays on the shoulder. The pattern is a delight and quite ingenious in the construction. I plan on making more, but without all my "improvements." In fact this was my test muslin of the project. I have been using the bag and had even had a few compliments in the wild when I use it it public.