Another purse and a tutorial

Well I didn't get to posting a tutorial on my Anthro knock off purse yesterday, because I showed a pic to my mom and she said "I want one"! So being that Mother's day is Sunday and I hadn't bought her a gift yet, I said "Sure"! So I spent my free time yesterday and this morning making her the purse, which I will be mailing today. Yeah she won't get it by Sunday, but at least it's something she will love :) I made hers a bit different than mine. For one I lined the inside pockets to make them nicer and sturdier. I also did a clutch handle on hers. Oh and used a fabulous green fabric (I think I like hers better than mine!). So here is another knock off Anthropologie bow purse (tutorial to follow pics)

 Don't you just love that green fabric! I do!

 Alright so now I am a semi pro at making this purse. Anybody else want one?!?! I would love to make you one, really I would, but how about I tell you how to make one! Supplies:

 One yard of duck cloth
 One yard of Fabric pattern of your chose
 Cream thread
 Purse straps (super cheap at Jo-anns The one on my purse was $3 and the one on my mom's was $2.00)

So first you are going to cut out your pattern:

 width = 16" height = 15"  be sure to curve the edges like I did. Double fabric so you cut out to identical pieces. Then fold in half vertically to make sure both sides are symmetrical.

 Follow the outside curves to make the side pieces

 Make a kidney like shape for bottom piece

 Make identical pattern in coordinating fabric.

 Now measure the edges around the duck cloth front piece. Just the two sides and the bottom. and cut a strip of coordinating fabric and piping. Now stitch piping inside coordinating fabric:

 attach to both the front piece and the back piece of the duck cloth.

 When both pieces are finished add the sides and bottom piece to one of the big pieces:

 Be sure that you have the raw edges together flipped to the inside of the purse. Now stitch all edges.

 Now you are going to attach the bottom piece to the side pieces. Don't worry if there seems to be extra fabric on the side piece. You will just trim it when you are done sewing. Just make the purse symmetrical.

 Now attach other big piece:

 Turn right side

 Make sure all seams are secure and make pleats on the front and back and both sides. Secure with bins and sew into place:

Make pockets that you want by making squares. I recommend doing the coordinatng fabric on the back like I did in the green purse. It gives it a nice finished look. You can also sew down the middle of one pocket to turn it into two or make it into three or four sections by sewing seams down. Just depends on how much storage you want.

Take  the coordinating fabric and make the same purse you just made out of duck cloth minus the piping. Much faster this time around!

 Keep coordinating fabric inside out and insert into duck cloth portion:

 Fold edges in and sew down. Don't worry about the raw edges because the thick trim will cover it.

 Now take a 9" thick strip of fabric that fits the length around the rim of the purse. Hem all edges!

 Attach to top of purse and fold in and attach to inside. Make sure it is even all around the purse and in the insde:

 Stitch a straight seam all around the purse. Be sure to back stitch. Always!

 Now make a bow out of fabric and attach to purse. Make bow by taking two rectangles and hem the edges. Attach two pieces and scrunch up in the middle and stitch (sorry didn't take pics of this. please ask any questions if you are confused). Now take a square of fabric and attach to bow to make the "knot".  attach to the purse by sewing down a square in the 'knot" and by stitching the ends of the bow to the purse.

 To attach the handles take two tubes of fabric and fold over rings to hold in place:

 Stitch into place about four or five times. This needs to be very secure on there. It will have to take the weight of whatever to hold in your purse!

 Now relish in the fact that you made your very own simply adorable purse! Also makes a great diaper bag! I put some snacks and diapers and wipes in mine yesterday for Ethan. Is was perfect!

 Here are your two options again (you could change it up even more. add more pockets, make it bigger, make it smaller, try different straps):

  Enjoy!

 I absolutely love them both!

 I would love to see yours if you make one too! Be sure to send me a pic :)

Michelle

  

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Anthro knock off purse

Do you know That I love Anthropology? Of course you do! Remember my Anthro inspired apron HERE (if not check it out, it's worth it). I have been coveting this purse for awhile. In fact I bought material about three months ago in preparation to make said purse (don't worry I'll show pic after I stop talking, or writing I guess). Then life got in the way and I had a million other things to do. Well not this week. No ma'am (or sir if a man is reading this, highly doubt that). Being that Mother's Day is Sunday, I said to myself, "self it is time to make you that Anthro purse". Here is a pick of my inspiration:

 When I first saw this purse on Anthropology's website, I thought how easy this would be to duplicate. Then I saw the price tag: 498.00, then down to 288.00 and it's now 140.00. Even at the current price of 140.00, why wouldn't I make my own for ten dollars in fabric. It is so perfect for spring/summer. So without further ado, I give you my version of Anthro's bow purse:

 Do you love it??!! I love it! Dare I say I might even like it better than Anthro's. Gasp! I just love how big I made it. I don't know how big the real version of the purse is, but I am totally digging the size of mine. I will definitely get a lot of use out of this baby.

 You want to make your own?! Stay tuned for the tutorial tomorrow :)

 Thanks for stopping by!

Check out the TUTORIAL
 

Michelle

  

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Organizing bathroom drawers

I have been wanting to do this for awhile, but I just hadn't found the right storage stuff for this project. Then I was at Walmart the other day and low and behold found some nifty (yep I used the word nifty) bamboo drawer organizers for ten dollars a piece.

 So I bought two of them and headed to the dollar store and bought a couple more storage containers for another six dollars. Total cost of this project was about $26.00 (While cleaning up I found about 20 dollars in change that I took to coin star, so really it cost me 6 extra dollars).

 So here is a couple before pics (not showing them all cause it was pretty unorganized).

 ok you caught me I tidied this up a bit before I took a before pic. Oh well!

 This is real! This is how my jewelry drawer looked. For reals yo! Super unorganized. I hated it.

 So I took everything out of every drawer and cleaned every drawer really well. I then added my storage and here is the end result:

 For some reason this is sideways?? oh well you get the picture!

 Even did my husbands drawers.

Now everything is so clean and organized. I LOVE it!!

 

Michelle

  

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April showers bring May flowers

Well over here we aren't getting much rain, but we have planted a bunch of new flowers to add some much needed pops of color. My husband is so amazing. He works hard all week and then works just as hard on the weekends doing projects I ask him to do. I have been mentioning to him that our front flower beds could use some help. We had way too much grassy stuff in the front and some variety was definitely needed. So my husband went out and picked out a bunch of flowers (that I have no idea what the names are, he could name everyone. Seriously). He is like some kind of botany genius. So we (and when I say we, I mean him) planted some plants and spruced up the yard a bit this weekend. Here is the before:

 Notice the uneven spacing above.

 Too much grassy things (sorry don't know the name of them)

 More grassy stuff, not spaced evenly

 Grassy grassy grassy

 You ready for the after? I am! Here we go:

 Loving the orange flowers and how clean it looks!

 Bye bye grassy!

 Hello clean and evenly spaced! I am a sucker for symmetry!

 Notice the lone orange hanging pot in the background? We are going to get two pots to go on either side of the front door and plant the lovely flowers in them.

 Awwww evenly spaced. Very nice! Great work to my husband! He spent all weekend digging up plants and planting plants and rearranging plants and buying plants. Such a lucky girl I am!

Now if I could just find some porch rockers for a deal!  Keep your fingers crossed for me :)

Michelle