Purse Workshop

Ten of us met at the quilt shop today and had a really fun and productive time.
Three made the same model but most brought their favourite pattern and we cut and stitched and gabbed from 10 till 3.

No one finished but the deadline is this Wednesday coming, when we meet again on our regular schedule. I'm thinking at least half will have them complete.
Some got only as far as 'dressing' the materials today, but all are unique and a definite reflection of the sewer.
Enjoy!
( Oh yeah, we also booked the facility for our fall project in October.)

 

New Spring Purse

Next week my Fibre Arts friends are meeting in the workroom of a local quilt shop. This is something we do twice a year. There, we try to work on a common themed project or if requested a member gives a mini workshop on a skill or art piece we would all like to try.

Its been a long winter and I think we're all still a little sleepy. We couldn't think of anything more exciting than making a new purse for spring. Some of us have a favourite pattern that will be reused and some, like myself, decided to use a pattern from Yoko Saito's book Japanese Quilting.

I'm redoing the purse from the front cover. I made one version using upholstery fabric last year and I used it a lot. I'm seduced by the taupe colours found in this book so I decided I'd do some fabric weaving, to see if I could approach the feel of her work shown in her illustrations.

These were the cottons I chose. I cut one inch strips with the grain, and put them through a bias tape make to give them all a finished folded edge.

After pinning the purse pattern to a piece of foam core I started weaving the pieces together. I was aiming for a herringbone pattern but toward the end I know I got lost. LOL

To get the lighter centre, I cut and glue tacked in some different colours. After giving the glue about an hour to setup, I fused freezer paper to the front surface to move it off the foam core.

After removing the pattern, I ironed on a light fusible web to the back and then removed the freezer paper from the front.

Now this is ready to fuse to a purse weight stabilizer. Then I'll stitch all the lines in place before I start assembling the purse next week.