The Lime And Black Makes Me Happy Purse

Howard usually phones at lunch and if I'm home, we chat and if I'm not, we talk later. Yesterday, he called back at afternoon coffee wondering how I was and where I'd been. When I told him I'd gone to Fabricland to spend his money he said oh, good. LOL - too funny!

Along with a green on green plaid from the bargain center, I bought two packages of elastic and two pieces of medium weight knit fabric to make pajama pants. The fabric is heavier than t-shirt and lighter than sweatshirt. It should be perfect and comfy. The plan is to sew them before I go to ArtFest at the end of March since I'm sharing a room with a friend and we're staying in dorms that are neither well heated nor well insulated. Decent pj pants might be a good idea. If I have time, I'll sew some tops to go with BUT... FIRST.. finishing this next purse.

I made significant progress yesterday although some of it was fiddly - like piping. It's something I rarely use and especially not this lime green piping bought so long ago that I might not have remembered it was in stash except that the pattern is called the Piping Hot Hobo Bag and has piping - of course. Above is the bag front. On the right, the piping is turned under and top stitched in place and on the left it's tacked ready to be sewn into the seam allowance when the gusset is added.

Speaking of the gusset. Instead of cutting it on fold, I cut two separate pieces completely forgetting to add the seam allowance. I've done this before. Here's the repair. It works quite well. Start by...

... butting the two edges up tight and fusing them in place with a wide strip of interfacing and then...

... stitch across the join with two rows of zigzag stitching one slightly wider than the other. Next...

... use some kind of decorative element on the right side to hide the join. In this case, I cut a strip of the lime green used on the front of the purse, centered it over the join, and zigzagged both edges in place. On the back...

... the black stitches are the original ones holding the fused edges together and the beige ones are the second set of stitches holding the lime green strip in place. The join is now securely stabilized and won't be a problem. I know. I've done this before. Sigh!

Here's the join on the gusset plus the piping sewn into the seam allowance. The join is at center bottom and echos the green elsewhere which is a blue based lime, not minty like it looks on my monitor, and definitely not yellow. This is one of my favourite shades of lime green.

I'm referring to this bag as the lime and black makes me happy purse. I talked to several friends yesterday and when they asked what I was doing, I said sewing a lime and black bag that's making me happy. They thought the bag had to be for me, that I couldn't sell it, and maybe but maybe not. I'm happy making it and I'd be thrilled to be paid for that so we'll see what happens.

Right now, I'm working on the back piece. That was the issue from yesterday. There wasn't enough of the original quilt top to cut the back from so I had to improvise. I'll show you what I did on Monday.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - blue based lime green - when we do move, I bet I paint my studio that color again!

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Personal Growth - There's a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost. - Martha Graham