Finally! (How I Spent My Weekend)

This weekend I finally made myself a new purse. I made one in the spring, but it was definitely a summer purse in a bright orange color. It was also SMALL. Too small for a daily purse. I like a small purse. For the longest time (maybe the first 30 years of my life) I pretty much just used a wallet or even a wallet/keychain combo. However, now that I wear glasses daily, I MUST have my lens cloth to clean them at all times. Dirty glasses are annoying and they give me a headache. (I also like a clean windshield, if you care.) So here it is. A buttercup bag! Again. It's the same pattern as before, but this time I enlarged it by 15%. The handle is a bit too long, I think, but it will fit better with a winter coat. (My winter coat does not match the purse at all. I don't care though.) I love the fabrics. I have several more yards of the liner since it was a good price and quality. I like the outer fabric even more, but I only bought two yards because of the price. I added interfacing to the handle, outer purse, and the divider that I put in myself. I'm not sure the divider needed the interfacing, but I don't think it hurts either. I also added a large pocket to the divider. It might be too large; I'm not sure.

Here is the old purse (same pattern) and the new. You can see the size difference.

Just to give you an idea of how small the orange purse is, I will share what I keep in it that stuffs it FULL. Wallet, lens cloth, cell phone, lip balm, keys, pen(s), and a checkbook-size calendar. I found that if I put in more than two pens, closing it gets really tough! Isn't that funny!? Although in full disclosure, the magnetic snap I placed in it was placed too low so it took away room in the purse.

It's a pretty simple pattern. I'm a beginner sewer and I think it's doable, though I spent a lot of time (and wasted thread) seam ripping. If you are interested, the buttercup bag pattern is free, but if you want to sell them, the pattern is just $10. Too bad sewing is so stressful for me, otherwise I would love to sell something like this! (Not that the craftsmanship is great, either.)

The dark fabric just doesn't photograph well for details, but you can see enough.