While chatting with Teresa one day, I asked her, "What is the perfect purse?" Unlike me, Teresa owns a lot of purses and regularly switches between them. When I made her the rainbow purse, she tried to switch to other purses but found she couldn't because she loved the pockets too much. We put our heads together and came up with a look she liked, and I went to work designing.
I start by using muslin to make a pattern. I did the outside first, than pinned in the pleats where I wanted them. Once I had it pinned up, I could cut out the non-pleated liner. At first, I thought I wanted to bring it gathered up to an oval, so I also made a pattern piece for the top.
I then cut out the "real" fabric. Teresa really liked the "Skinny Mini Table Runner", so she wanted fabric like that on her purse. She also wanted pockets on the inside that stand out. It's really easy to lose stuff int he bottom of a dark purse, so I went with one of her favorite colors: bright yellow. Here is the lining before I sewed it into the purse.
Once I had trial one mostly sewn together I was not happy. The opening was too narrow to get things in and out easily. I left the project alone for 2-3 days and thought about it. I finally just ripped it apart and redesigned the top. Sorry, I did not take a picture of the original purse. I was so disgusted with it, I could not bring myself to photographing it, even for posterity. Here is the finished purse.
Teresa really wanted the shorter wooden handles, which is part of the reason the top wouldn't work. With my first design, I could not get the handles on and looking decently. I am much happier with this.
I really love how deceptive this purse is. It doesn't look crazy-full when she's carrying it, but the inside holds a lot, and keeps it organized. I am planing on using this purse design for future Etsy purses (in fact I already have fabric/handles/zippers bought for 2).
Here's the happy purse owner. Oddly enough, I did not ask her to match, yet she showed up with the exact shade of yellow that the pockets are.
