"Artful Sewing" Outtake: Pocket Page Purse

I was cleaning out some of my computer files this weekend and came across outtakes from my "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing" book (still going strong, yay!!!).

This photo was from our first photo shoot. My editors discussed it and asked us to reshoot outdoors, which I'm so glad we did! It went on to become the My Life is An Adventure Pocket Purse. In the book, we used the rectangular version. This was the secondary bag that did not make the final cut. It's still super cute though!

I've had people write me to say how much they liked this idea and ask how I came up with the idea. Hereis the story: During my newspaper career, long before I started writing the craft column, I worked as a photo stylist and coordinator for the entertainment section. It was my job to set up and style photo shoots. I also had to keep all the photo slides organized for the page designers. To do that, I kept them in these slide protector sheets within big black binders. I loved that the pages had all those little pockets. I remember thinking how fun it would be to take a page with me and collect small things from throughout my day and insert them in those tiny compartments and then hang it up on my wall. As you can tell, I used to daydream a lot back then while sorting those slides!

When the time came for me to sketch purses for the book outline, I immediately remembered the slide protector pages. I wondered if they even had them anymore! They did! I bought a box at a local photography shop. In the end - the idea morphed into the purse.

The complete directions are in my book, but I wanted to share this picture and the concept! Here is a tip - whenever you are sewing through vinyl or plastic - always use Sewer's Aid on your needle and presser foot, it will make it glide on through!

Another idea is to use a pocket shower curtain (also sew on a liner to make it more sturdy!).

Peace, love, and glitter!
Kathy :-)

P.S. Check out my new book and product line!