Reversible Flaps

Here's the first reversible flap I've just finished. This one is UT/Longhorn themed and a burnt orange to "match mom's car". :) I rather like it. The dupioni silk is soooo nice even if it's a bit at odds with the fleece Longhorn reverse applique. I think they ended up working well together though. The silk is reinforced with some iron-on stabilizer and the backing is just a cut-out of the same main fabric I used to make the purse. I jazzed that side up a bit with a pink rhinestone iron-on applique I found at the fabric store.







They're super easy to make. The fabric is 20" X 13" finished size (which is actually too wide and has to be folded over to fit into the pocket with the buttons to attach it... next ones will be 20" X 10" finished size). Placed RIGHT SIDES together and sewn, flipped right side out and topstitched for a more finished look. Then the buttonholes measured and sewn. Super easy after all the junk that went into actually MAKING the purse in the first place. ^_^

Another reversible flap! Go Cowboys!!

Final Pocket Count

Final Pocket Count:

Open pockets: 10
Zippered pockets: 3
Pen pockets: 4
Snap pockets: 2
Specialty pockets and stuff:
---- cell phone (velcro)
---- tissues
---- business cards
---- sunglasses/bottled water(?)
---- hidden zippered pocket
---- key fob
---- makeup zippered pouch:
* elastic/pocket section for mirror, mascara, brushes, etc.
* zippered mesh pocket
* open mesh/fabric pocket

Total count: 28 pockets

Damn... that's a lot of friggin' pockets. O_O

In the beginning... there were pockets...

It all started when I made my sister a purse for her birthday. Mom loved it so much that she wanted one. “Okay fine,” I said, “send me how big you want it and how many pockets and all that junk and I’ll make you one too.” Little did I know….

Mom’s current purse is from Cabela’s so naturally it has a go-zillion compartments and doubles as a small diaper bag according to over half the reviewers on the webpage. Yay fun. So I set out to design a purse with a go-zillion and ONE compartments that’s about the same size.

Mom’s main complaint about her current purse was the color was too boring (gray with pink camo interior). She decided on denim for this new purse since it can go with anything and I had some pink fabric in my stash that I chose for the interior. My husband and I went shopping for the half dozen zippers I would need for this monstrosity and I came across the exact same fabric I had chosen for the interior but in blue, so I figured it would work well as a secondary lining color (for inside pockets and such).

In her email outlining what she wanted her purse to hold and stuff, she mentioned that she liked pretty, pastel colors and specifically mentioned pink and blue so here we are. It’s a somewhat stiff fabric; I think it may be used for slightly heavier-weight dress shirts for men.

But anyway, I set out to figure measurements and stuff but I kinda hate math so that was an adventure in and of itself. I decided to start construction on the purse from the interior out (mostly because the denim had to be washed still). That meant starting with the zippered pocket divider. It will divide the main compartment of the purse into two, have a small open pocket inside the zippered portion as well as 4+ open pockets on the outside of each side of the divider. See what I meant about the “pockets and pockets” yet? … And we’re just getting started....

NOTE - I made a few measuring mistakes that I had to add extra pieces to the purse to correct or put in like mini-pleats where I didn't really want to. I went back and tried to correct for these in the bits of tutorial already posted. You'll notice that I marked out measurements of some pieces and replaced them with actual photos of the replaced fabric or just went back and edited the measurements without adding a new photo. That means some pieces may look smaller/larger in the photo than they actually will be cut out (ie - I cut a 4" piece which was too small, so I widened it to 8"... in relation to everything in the photo it will look small, but your actual piece will be larger, make sense?). I've marked these changes with a *** so you have some idea of what will be different. I'm sorry for all the confusion and if you don't understand anything, feel free to message me and I'll try to help as much as I can.

**ETA** - as someone suggested, I have separated this tutorial into smaller blog entries to help with the loading times. Hopefully it helps a bit. :)

Interior Tutorial: Part 1

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Interior Tutorial: Part 2

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Sew down the gap.

Handsew rhinestone detailing to Pocket Flap and Key Fob if you like.

CONGRATS!! Your interior is finished!! Here are some photos:











Now let's move on to the exterior! *pats on back* Don't worry, you can do it! ^_^

Exterior Tutorial: Part 1

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(Continued in Part 2)