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Thursday 9 August 2012

Starting With Red

Along with brown, red is not on my favourite color list. If I must work with it, I prefer a blue based red which - being completely honest - looks fabulous with denim. Yesterday, I finished up the denim and brown purses and pulled out the next base to be worked on and a bag of pre-fused cotton pieces. One was red. It seemed perfect especially as I'm trying to make the purses look quite different from each other. Starting with red, every other step after this will be tough slugging. LOL - the challenge will be good for me.




With each purse, I'm learning how to construct the finished project in fewer and neater steps. An area that I'm paying careful attention to right now is how to end the strap cords. If you have some ideas, I'd love to hear them. For an earlier purse, I used large wooden beads. For the denim purse, I wrapped a fused strip of the lace around the base, steamed it in place, and decorated it with beading.




For the brown purse, I stitched the strap into the seam allowance placing the cut edges between two lines of stitching. It's neat but somewhat bulky. Both straps are braided. These are quick and easy to make and co-ordinate while still being thin and strong enough for these two styles of purses.




The brown purse above is 7 1/2" x 8" flat folded with a 3" flap. The denim and lace one (shown yesterday) is 9" x 11" with a one inch bottom and a silver purse frame. Both have a 48" strap. The brown is $195.00 and the denim is $250.00 (Canadian). If you're interested, let me know.

This morning - cleaning - finally. It seems like I've been putting it off for over a week now and it definitely needs to be done. After that, I'll work on the red purse. I'm hoping to finish it and at least one but possibly two more before starting on the paperwork. A week Sunday is the delivery date so time is running out.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - last night I absolutely did not want to cook and I did it anyway and I wanted to go out for ice-cream and I didn't.
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4 comments:

  1. Jodie9 August 2012 at 07:48

    Hi Myrna:
    I haven't commented in a while - but wanted to today. Your purses are beautiful! I don't have any suggestions for attaching straps in a neat way (sorry!). I do wonder if the straps are adjustable?
    Anyway - I too must clean, but have two sewing projects for a friend to clear off my table first. Have a good day!

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  2. Seraphinalina9 August 2012 at 07:58

    It is interesting how people are drawn to different colours. I love red, but like you, it has to be blue based, not an orange red. Warm colours just don't excite me.

    The purses are lovely.

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  3. 2 Good Claymates9 August 2012 at 08:25

    I know reds are "iffy" with a lot of people. I prefer blue reds, however orange reds look best on me along with any other autumn shades but I just choose not to wear it. With our jewelry we use to make some in red and it would hardly sell but now for the past year, anything we make in orange reds are the first things that sell and getting more requests for red all the time so there must be more of a trend to watch for and I have learned it is always good to make things in appealing colors but to also break out of that "comfort zone and create pieces in colors that are not necessarily our favorite as well. It can be a bit of a challenge at first but comes easier later on.

    Carolyn

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  4. Rose9 August 2012 at 14:10

    Purse making appears to be your thing. Certainly, the three pictures show lovely purses and strap attachments. I'm sure that you'll develop new ideas for ending the strap cords. Sorry, I don't have any suggestions. BTW, there are many days to go out for ice cream. :)

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