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.
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?
