Thursday, July 1, 2010

tuttie tute:girly party gift

I LOVE making kids gifts because:
they are often free and made with scraps
they use up scraps
they are fast
always original
FUN
satisfying
are you convinced of making kids gifts yet?
this is my quickest go to girls purse
I used Amy Butler Lacework /Olive for the outer, Garden Maze/Olive lining and Martini Dot/Blush for the straps and flower. We are going to fill the purse with nail polish and pretty tissue then it will be our gift bag also!

Here are the basics:
2- 13x13 outer and lining
1- 13x13 fusible interfacing
2- 12x1 1/2 for handle
1- 2 3/4x 5 3/4 piece of plastic, cardboard or anthing sturdy for bottom (it wont be seen)
embellishments

1. Cut your outer, lining and interfacing together 13x12 1/2
then fold in half short end to short end and cut out a 1" square at the fold on both sides, this will give you a box bottom
2. Iron on interfacing to wrong side of outer fabric
3. Cut Handle cut 2 pieces, bias tape can be used or you can make your own, ribbon is also nice here.
4. If using your own fabric, fold in half lengthwise and iron
open and fold over 1/4" on each side to incase raw edges, I like to sew 2 rows of stitching 1/8" on both sides
5. Assemble purse
sew side seams on outer 5/8"
sew lining sides seams the same as outer only leave a 2" opening in the middle for turning later
6. Press side seams and stitch bottom seam 1/2" across, this creates the box look
7. Attach handles to top 2" in from side seams
8. Turn lining inside out and push outer into lining to top edges line up and stitch 5/8" seam around
9. Turn through opening in lining side seam, press, top stitch as desired
10. Cut bottom and insert in the lining opening then stitch opening closed, press
The purse is finished and no time to embellish
Fabric Flower:
-rip 2 strips of fabric one aprox. 2x10 and one aprox. 1x8 I just eyeball this for the size of flower I am wanting, and I like to rip the fabric to get frayed edges, they could also be pinked.
-sew a long running stitch on one side of each strip
-pull the thread to gather, as you do this the fabric starts to curl, let the fabric shape itself and once you get ot the desired fullness spiral the gathered ends around and add a needle to the gathering thread and stitch flower middle to secure it, add a button ad pin back or stitch directly to purse.