Measure Twice, Cut Once...

I worked on a number of sewing projects in the last few weeks, which meant that our dining room was a disaster (as well as the rest of the house since threads seemed to be tracked everywhere!). It was fun getting back into the groove again however, since it had been awhile since I had been sewing.

Because I don't have a sewing room and I must mess up the dining room (which is where our family eats every meal because we don't have an eat in kitchen) I usually make it count by doing a marathon event of sewing, not just a small project. It wasn't quite a marathon this time however, but more than one project was pretty time consuming.

Brazilian Hipsters - 5 min sewing project!

This time around:

1. Regency Period Hallowe'en Costumes - including short stay from Sense and Sensibility Patterns
2. Two pleated cardigans  Jalie 2919 - one from fabric in my stash! Yay!
3. Three pair of  Jalie 2568 - Brazilian hipsters
4. One pair of Jalie 2568 - low rise hipster - out of scraps from one of the cardigans
5. One purse organizer - no pattern, just a draft of my own.

There is the problem. Last year I made one of these purse organizers for my mom for Christmas. These are something you would stick inside your purse and you could remove it and put it in a different purse and still have everything. My mom asked for one of these, but sent me a link to one you would purchase online already made. It was about $60 plus shipping and it was from the US, so I may have paid duty, brokerage fees etc.. 

I wouldn't do it. It looked easy enough and there were patterns out there such as this one for a PortaPocket. This pattern looks quite nice, but I wasn't into buying it. First, I like to wing it, second, it would add significantly to the cost of the gift (unless I made millions more!). 

It went over well (I forgot to take a picture which is sad because the ladies at the fabric store who helped me on Dec 23rd to figure out how I might put it together without a pattern may have appreciated seeing how it turned out!) and at Thanksgiving this year I was asked by my aunt to make her one too.

Wait, that isn't the problem yet. Sure, I would like to devote time to my own projects rather than taking on new. And, I don't remember any offer to pay for fabric or anything else, but that is nothing really, compared to the real problem.

I measured my aunt's purse hurriedly on the way out at the end of a long Thanksgiving Day. We had a two hour drive ahead of us. You might be able to imagine the rest. The point is that it must fit into her purse and her purse must be able to close. I am not confident that this will be possible because once made up (and I actually made it quite a bit smaller than I measured for) THIS THING IS FRIGGIN' HUGE! It is about 12 x8x4"

Purse Organizer 

Other Side - pen holder, cheque book or other flat object holder

 Side view - small pocket

Inside view, roomy pockets

Close up of zippered pocket

Close up of credit card holder

Close up of tissue holder with strap

Another view - side has clip for keys or other item

Reversible - this is it flipped inside out. Your choice.

Close up of elastic detail. I dyed this fold-over elastic years ago and it matched. Nice.

Now, it came out pretty nice I must say -  but it is SO large. I am concerned it won't fit her purse. Won't that be a disaster? Well, maybe it will work out - I mean, in my memory her purse was huge. I think. If not, it would probably work great for inside a tote bag.

In the bright side. I used up some scrap fabric, and found notions to recycle for this. I did buy a yard of fabric though.

The saddest thing is that we had company on the weekend (wait that was the good part) and we cleaned up the dining room and put my sewing stuff away, so while I still  have a sewing bug, I can't sew right now :( . I guess I should finish up some Knifty Knitter projects instead.