Another Late Night Purse...and an Announcement!

Alternate title: Why do I do this to myself?
Alternate title: The Crazy Crafter Strikes Again.
Alternate title: The reason I don't have an etsy shop...yet.

But seriously folks,

I decided to do the cute Beauty Purse pattern from Amy Karol's Bend-the-Rules Sewing. I bought these pretty tweedy suiting fabric remnants at JoAnn Fabrics and thought the contrast of fabrics would look good with the pleats.

Well.

What I ended up with was a series of unfortunate events.

Event #1 - I didn't take a close enough look at the fabric content. It was polyester. As in doesn't take an ironed crease well. As in pain-in-the-heinie to press and sew. Lesson learned. Check your labels.

Event #2 - I piddled around deciding on which pattern to use and didn't start sewing until 9:30. PM. Now you know why it's a Late Night purse. It doesn't have anything to do with David Letterman.

Event #3 - I sewed pieces on backwards. Twice. Yup. Brilliant.

Event #4 - I tried to iron the interfacing that I substituted for the recommended flannel. It was a soft stabilizer, and had the same weight and feel as flannel. Seemed like a reasonable substitute. BUT. It was a heat-soluble stabilizer. Disappeared into the iron. Great. That may lead to another unfortunate event at a later date!

Event #5 - The fact that I still couldn't get a good sharp press when I tried to iron the finished product. So it ended up "poofy".

Finally, Event #6 - I forgot to sew a button loop into it before I sewed the top up, so I had to rip stitches out to get that in there. I finished the project at 3:00. In. The. Stinkin'. Morning.

Whew. So much for a professional-looking finished product! Thankfully, my friends are very gracious about my less-than-perfect handmade gifts. And it gives me a chance to practice and learn and hone my skills. And next time? Well, maybe next time I'll start at 7:00 PM.



(Please excuse the poor picture quality and backgrounds - I couldn't find my camera, so I had to borrow one at the office!)

NOW....since you've been kind enough to stick with me through the tedious and tiresome tyrade above, I have a special announcement.

Tomorrow Morning, on this very blog site, I'll be hosting my VERY FIRST GIVEAWAY!

Tell all your friends. I don't have tons of readers, so the chances will be pretty good! I'll announce the prize tomorrow...so please check back in!