Sassy cosmetic purse

I am addicted to frame purses at the moment. Seems like a harmless enough way to spend my day and it is a lot of fun!

On top of this, I have found really cute ones with twin black faux crystal (well, okay, plastic) hearts on the clasp.

But that's not all - when is it every I hear you say! I have also been sent some very nice Tilda Spring Diaries fabric and the elements have just come together....

To avail yourself of some of this fantastic fabric, Groves in the UK is the place to start. So, what do we need?

-an 8.5 cm purse frame. This is measured hinge to hinge. I have provided a template and if your frame differs, it is very likely that the pattern will not play ball. I got my frames here.
-fat quarter of fabric. Mine is Tilda Sunflower Dove White and you can get that from groves@stockistenquiries.co.uk 
-fat quarter lining fabric. I have used Tilda Emily Pink.
-Fat quarter of H630 fusible interfacing from the trusty folks at Vlieseline.
-black stranded embroidery floss
-pink perle 8 coton
-water soluble marker
Your usual sewing needs.

Begin by printing off the template.....

The scale is 1:1.
Cut it out and use it as a pattern to cut two pieces of interfacing and two of lining. Fuse the two interfacing to the wrong side of the Sunflower fabric....

Trim the outers so that they are the same size and shape as the wadding.

Use the water soluble marker to freehand the embroidery design to the middle front of the untrimmed unit. Keep well away from the the sides.

Using two strands of embroidery thread and a backstitch, stitch the letters and the emoticon. 

Remove the water soluble marker lines. 

Place the purse outer pieces together and pin. Have a look on your template and see where the hinge is marked? Make this mark on the wrong side of one of the outer pieces.

Sew from hinge mark to hinge mark around the bottom only. Use a slightly shorter stitch and of course, skip the cut corners...

Do the same on the lining pieces but this time, leave a gap in the bottom of the lining for turning out later.
Box the corners next on the lining and the outer by pinching the corners....

Then sewing straight across.....

Repeat for the other one and also for the lining. Turn the purse outer the right way and slip the lining over it so that the right sides are together....

Sew around the top from hinge mark to hinge mark.....

I am not going to pretend that this isn't fiddly. You can do it by hand if you prefer.
Turn the purse out through the gap and then close the gap. Stuff the lining down into the outer, gently making sure that the corners are nice and sharp and that everything looks good. Here is what we have now....

Time to sew the purse into the frame. First, whip stitch the purse in, centring everything and making sure that the right bits and pieces line up.....

You can use any old thread for this task. Now it is time to sew it in properly. Use the pink perle coton to sew the frame in using the holes for your stitches.

Pay attention to the back to ensure that you do not have too many unsightly stitches showing. A slight angle when your needle enters the fabric on the lining side will keep these to a minimum.

When the purse frame is secure, cut the whip stitches away. And there we have it! A roomy cosmetic purse with a bit of attitude!

Thank you for joining me this week. Look forward to seeing you here again

With love
Debbie
xxx