A Light Lady Hammer

When I showed Howard Lyn's purse so far, he said it looked like her. Excellent. That's certainly the direction I was heading in and I'm pleased with how it's turning out so far.

Several years ago sewing jeans was on my Learn List so I bought Ron Collins and Sandra Betzina's DVD Jeans Couture (further down this page) and signed up for a workshop with Ron. One of the best tips I learned was to use a hammer to eliminate bulk. It makes sense. It's like a clapper only smaller and easier to manage. Mine is a light lady hammer. I doubt that's the official name but it's not as heavy and still does the trick without the weight. On the binding around the top of Lyn's purse there were sections with up to eight layers of fabric. I steamed the edge, flattened it with the hammer, and top stitched with ease. YEAH!

I put the zipper in and then took it out and put it in again even though I'd already triple stitched the zipper to the extension and top stitched the band. It was worth the work. The first zipper was non-separating. The second one was sturdier, separating, and had a decorative tab. MUCH better... although looking at the picture below I may top stitch again with the denim thread to add some punch.

Next, the handle. I can't use the brown fabric because I already pieced as many of the little bits together as I could for the binding and the zipper extensions. There's not much left which is great for zero waste sewing and not so good for handles. Maybe the few little bits can be worked in with something else. We'll see. An idea will occur to me - but not now - later today - first, the Farmer's Market to see which fruits and vegetables are available.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - approaching done