The Purse of Many Pockets

The new purse!

So, I should have published this months ago, but I've been busy. I needed a new purse and I just couldn't find one that I liked with the right amount of pockets/dividers and the right price. I hate throwing my phone in my purse and having it ring and ring and eventually go to voicemail while I dig around trying to find it.

"I just put you in here! How are you on the bottom already!"

Anyways, I decided to venture again into the world of sewing and make my own purse. I found this free pattern online and decided to run with it.

I added an extra pocket on the end so that both ends have an elastic pocket, and I omitted one of the side pockets. Inside, there is the big zipper pocket and a plain pocket on the opposite side that I made large enough to hold my kindle. I didn't use a pleather bottom, just more of the same fabric I had, and I did construct it a bit differently by sewing the ends onto the bottom and THEN sandwiching on the sides.

My straps are also longer, since I like wearing my purses cross-body for walking through the grocery store. Both of the D-rings are on the same side, so that I could get longer straps, and so that I can put my keys there. D-rings are really pointless though, plain circles would have been better.

I also added a zipper on top instead of a magnet clasp because my purse loves to jump off the front seat of my car and dump out everything onto the floor.      No. Bad purse.

Anyways, here's more pictures of the finished product!

Closer view so that you can see all the pockets!

 

Outside Elastic Pocket

Inside Elastic Pocket

All of the Inside Pockets (4 total, 2 elastic, 1 zipper, + kindle pocket)

Crochet Origami Bag

So, I stumbled across this pattern on Pinterest, and I loved the concept. I'm not a big fan of crochet bags, mainly because I hate having to line them. This pattern, however, is the perfect solution. The body of the bag is worked flat - it is seriously just a rectangle. You can make is as big or as small as you want, just keep in mind that you need a specific height/width ratio to get the bag to fold up correctly. Then you can line it by sewing a flat rectangle onto your flat crochet piece! Too easy.

Once you've got your lining sewn in, you fold up the bag and seam all of 2 seams. Then you can add whatever strap you want!

I think the striping really makes this bag pop, so I did the same thing, but I also added a simple shell stitch border (skip 2 sts, 6dc, sc into next st) around the whole thing. The strap was just a single row of dc's with the same shell stitch border along both edges.

Pattern: The Masa Bag
Hook: 6.5mm
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Passion, Dark Chocolate, and Autumn Maize (less than 1 skein of each)
Lining: Plain cotton fabric from the quilting dept at Joann's (I bought 2 quilters quarters because the line for the cutting counters was hellacious...)

Folding Instructions Here