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Monday, August 13, 2012

Trial and Error

In the last couple of weeks I have decided to join a couple of swaps. I'm in need of some small scale fun projects at the moment, seeing as how the bigger quilts are posing a little more of a challenge to me and my sore back. Plus, I love doing swaps, its great to push yourself out of your comfort zone a little and make for someone else's taste.

First up, myself and Geraldine decided to do a little private swap between us, but I am still mulling over the design element here so piccies on this one yet.

Pretty {little} pouch mosaic

I also joined Round 5 of the Pretty {little} pouch swap. I've never taken part in this swap before, but have seen lots of the lovely things made for it and can't wait to get started. When picking the pouches for my mosaic, frame purses featured heavily so I decided I needed to learn to make them myself.



 I duly ordered some supplies last week (thank you to those of you who gave me lots of tips on where to go over on Facebook - you know who you are!) and they arrived today. So I picked out some pretty fabrics and got started.


I started with the smaller frame, thinking it would be more straightforward and used a combination of Kristie's tutorial and Lisa's to make it. Unfortunately I didn't quite get the pattern template right - I left too small a seam allowance which mean that the top of the purse was not quite full enough for the frame. Annoying because the rest of the purse looked fine and was really quick and easy to make up. I also found the glue a bit fiddly to apply but think that's because I my fabric didn't fit quite right.


In this picture, it looks ok, but its really not! Have a look in the next picture and you can see how the fabric is sliding out - and all the glue I got on the lining!


After leaving this to start drying for a few minutes, I decided that I really wasn't happy with it and couldn't  see myself using it, - mostly because I didn't think the fabric would be secure in the frame with the weight of coins. So I pulled the fabric out of the frame and decided to try another practice run with it in the next couple of days. I think the next attempt will be with the square frame to see how it works by comparison!


I am posting progress pics of what I am working on more often on Instagram (where I am sewfairyface) and Facebook - where I also do a lot of chatting and find it a little easier to respond to people more quickly so I'd love if you joined me over there on either of them. I'm also seriously considering making some changes to the commenting settings here due to the insane amount of spam landing in my email - unfortunately while its filtered out from appearing on the blog, its still being emailed to me - hundreds of them per week! Any suggestions?

17 comments:

  1. Cute looking purse from the outside. Funny how you can hide things! Hope the second one goes well.
    Maybe try moderated comments? =D

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  2. Love the fabrics you chose for the purses. I have to admit I use a turn through on the seam that goes into the frame, which increases the thickness going into the frame, and then use piping cord to really jam it securely in the frame (if that all makes sense!)

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  3. I love the idea of framed purses but struggle with them too. And no idea what to do about the spam. If you need word verification back on then put it back on. We'll still talk to you. Be very clear of why you did it and people will understand.

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  4. Getting that amount of spammy comments aint good. Would understand if you put on word verification.

    I do same as Katy for purses, but I still get glue absolutely everywhere ;-)

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  5. I haven't made any purses like this yet, but it is on the gotta try it list for sure! Good luck!

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  6. I hope you check out that tutorial I sent you. It just takesppractice and then it becomes old hat. Good luck.

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  7. Oh, I *love* the pink and orange fabrics together! They'll make a really lovely purse.

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  8. Aww, too bad that first one didn't work out, it was super cute. Hope the second try works out better. I usually end up making 2 or 3 of everything, and I never use the good fabric for the first one. I'm happy to hear that you are on instagram. Nasty little time waster :)

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  9. I use the turn through method which helps increase seam bulk. I've never found I have enough room to put cord in but I do use paper string between the lining and the frame. You can buy it from u-handbag.

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  10. Good luck with the second purse! As for the spam, I received a lot of them - out of nowhere - on my old blog, and I put back the word verification procedure on - it stopped, but it is quite annoying for people commenting..

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  11. Don't allow anonymous comments, I stopped them and haven't had a single spam comment since and I don't have to have the horrible word verification on.

    Next week is frame purses for the Zakka sew along, I'm a little nervous!

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  12. I love your purse fabrics - good luck with the next one! The spam comments aren't good, I hope you sort it out! (You could see if not allowing anonymous comments slows them down...)

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  13. I have yet to try the framed purses myself, they look great but are tricky. Don't give up. And I will type the word verification for you if you need it, I think a few people have been getting the kind of spam you mention and are marking their emails as spam/junk as received and that is cutting down on the emails but not totally eliminating them.

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  14. Framed purses need lots of patience! Keep going! Jxo

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  15. Now that's serious spam. I'm with Susan - if you put that verification thingy back on I'll still happily stalk you.

    Your purse fabric choices are just great - perfect for a splash of color in a little project.

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  16. I think the square shape frame is much easier and the small round ones are very fiddly! But once you have done a few it does get easier...

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  17. I think the square shape frame is much easier and the small round ones are very fiddly! But once you have done a few it does get easier...

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I love to read your comments and do my best to reply to them all, but with a busy job and a family to look after sometimes I don't get time! Comment settings have been changed to reduce the volume of spam I am receiving.