Hearts & purses

So what does a kilo of lavender look like?? Well, it's BIG, believe me! I tried taking a photo but it didn't really do it justice but imagine you have a 500g box of cornflakes and you fill it with lavender, from bottom to top, right into the corners - you'd still have some left over!! It's BIG...

I made a lavender heart straight away because I just couldn't wait. This is my favourite pink gingham fabric but it's a little thin, so you can see there's something darker inside. I don't want to line them obviously, so I'm letting ideas roll around in my head for the moment.

I also made a couple of zipped purses over the weekend to see how they went, decide on designs and sewing methods etc. I thought I'd do the first one for me with my favourite fabrics - that gingham again, and the dappled flower effect print that I used on Mara's needlecase. It's nearly all gone now...I wish I could get some more but I only bought a fat quarter probably 5+ years ago!!
I'm also using a narrow lace trim and a picot edged bias binding...

 I saw this picot trim in the craft shop and thought it would look lovely along the edges of a zip on a little purse. Shame I didn't "engage brain" first. It does indeed look lovely but I am NEVER DOING THIS AGAIN!! It meant using a completely different construction method and took far, far longer and to be honest, I could get a similar look using a second line of lace trim.
But it does look fab...

 I wanted to make a purse that had a flat base so it would stand up on it's own, so looked through several tutorials until I found one that told me how to do it - it was really easy and saved me a lot of time working it out. I'll give all the links next time.

    

In an effort to use as little of the precious patterned fabric as possible, the base is gingham. The lining is a pale striped fabric I picked up in a sale a couple of years ago. I think I was making a bag at the time, so bought a couple of metres intending to make more bags. I didn't. And I used some cheap calico to make an interlining to give it a bit more body - the gingham is really soft and floppy.

   

It's a little wider than I intended to make it. I used a 7" zip to which I added a tab at each end, which widened it to 8". It's approx 5 1/2" high and the depth at the base is 2".

But I really like it and I think I'm going to have to keep it - partly because it took just so long to make as I had to keep re-thinking, unpicking and re-stitching.The next one will be as good but quicker. Hopefully...

I also made a smaller purse but with the zip tab just at the "closed" end to see how it looked. This is also a pink gingham fabric but the pattern is printed on the diagonal, not woven. I bought enough fabric to make a fitted short sleeved, waistcoat style blouse. Eighteen months ago...I never made it, so thought I might as well use it. I might make some even smaller coin purses. And the lavender hearts would look good in this too.

 

I need to get some more zips and having had a good look on the internet, it's actually cheaper to pop to my local fabric shop than buy them online! They only charge 45p for a 7" zip, so I think I'll get a few and see how it goes. I'll need to get some more narrow lace too. I'm supposed to be making things from my stash but I'm bound to buy more fabric while I'm there...

And before I settle down in front of the sewing machine again, I might squeeze in a walk along Weston Shore while the sun is shining.