Have you ever wanted to create something that is practical and useful and gives you your own sense of style?  Or maybe, you are looking for a great gift idea for your mom, daughter, or sister.  If so, you’ve come to the right place.  I would like to share with you some of the handmade purse secrets, hints and tips for making handbags of your own that will make a statement and have all your friends asking where you got such cute handbags.

If you’re ready to make your own handmade purse, there are some important things you need to know before you begin.  Just follow these five secrets for having fun making your first handmade purse.

1. An important factor when you start to making handbags is to make sure you that you select the right fabric for the right style of handmade purse.  The reason why this is important is because your finished handbag will be affected by the weight and flexibility of the fabric and materials you use.  If you don’t select the right fabric for the right style of handmade purse, then you run the risk of a lot of frustration when you can not even finish your project because the fabric layers are so thick you cannot even sew them without breaking a needle, or so flimsy the finished purse just lies in a heap.
2. Another important consideration for making a handmade purse is that you decide what style of handbag you are making because that will determine the type of materials you use.  If you make sure you use the right fabric for the right kind of handmade purse you have in mind, then you’ll be fine. 
3. You don’t have to spend a lot of money in order to make a handmade purse.  All you need to do is limit your use of expensive fabrics, and make sure that you don’t overspend on the accessories. 
4. Instead of complicating your making handbags efforts by purchasing expensive fabrics, try it this way:  look in your closet for that favorite dress that you know you will never fit in again and then use the fabric from that dress to make your handmade purse.  In fact, if you recycle your old dress, then you will find that you enjoy your finished handbag that much more.
5. Have you considered making quilted purses?  It’s not as difficult as you might think.  What you need to do is quilt two layers of fabric with a layer of batting in between for each piece of your purse.  To do this you can simply sew straight lines across the layered fabrics an inch or two apart and then sew those quilted pieces together to complete your quilted purse.

So if you really want to make cute handbags, follow these tips to enjoy making a handmade purse of your own.

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Has this ever happened to you?  You get a pattern and fabric to make a handmade purse.  You look over the directions, cut out all the pieces and once you’ve begun sewing you find the directions are not clear at all.  Now what do you do?  I usually wonder if I’ve just wasted my fabric and if I’ll ever be able to complete the purse without pulling my hair out.  Lets face it we have all run into patterns that just are not written in a way that we totally understand them. 

Here are five tips that you can use to help when you get stuck with bad directions.

1. Read the directions before beginning a new project.  If you’re still stuck, re-read the directions, read them out loud or to someone else.  Sometimes just saying things out loud helps me understand it better.
2. Use the pattern pieces and pin them together along the seam lines so you can see how it is supposed to go together. 
3. Make a mock up of the purse out of any cheap fabric you have to make sure it is going to go together like I want it to.  Sometimes, pinning the pattern pieces doesn’t quite do the trick but I must admit I only do this if the handmade purse I am trying to make is for a special occasion or I really want to learn how it is done.  (In dressmaking, this is called making a muslin and is often done when you have expensive fabric or you want to make sure the pattern fits properly.)
4. Find directions for a similar pattern either online, from a pattern you already have or from a book of patterns and use those directions instead.
5. Get creative and alter the construction of the pattern to get the look you want or sometimes you might surprise yourself and turn a potential disaster into a masterpiece or at least a cute handbag.
   

Leave me a comment and tell me what direction problems have you run into when making a handmade purse from a pattern and how did you over come them?  I would love to hear from you.

Technorati Tags: cute handbag, handbag making, handmade purse

Since I was doing a craft fair this weekend anyway, I thought I would put it out and see what happened.  I put a flyer with pictures of it outside at dusk and when it got dark.  I had many comments on how unique it was and someone eventually bought it.  A little later, someone came in looking for the ghost and as disappointed to find that it had sold.  She asked me if there was a picture on my site and I had to tell her that since it was a last minute item that I had not listed it anywhere yet.  I am not planning on selling these on my etsy site (shipping would not be easy) so I thought I would just post a couple of the pictures here.  If there is an interest I may consider making a tutorial that is a little more clear that the one I found online, so leave me a comment if you want to know how I made my wire ghost.

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Just a quick post to show off my handbag making skills with my whimsical handmade purse.  I would have been done a lot faster but I changed too many things to make the pattern I was using useful. About the only thing the same as the pattern is that it is a drawstring purse.  I decided that I wanted my bag lined and that I wanted the flounce on the bag sheer.  So I ended up having to figure it all out myself.  I had planned on doing a tutorial but that will take me a little time since I kept changing things as I went along. 

I’m not sure if you can tell in the photo but I ended up sewing the butterflies to the fabric and covering it with the sheer netting.  I will be posting it on my etsy site soon.  I’d love to hear what you think of my whimsical handmade purse, please leave me your comments or suggestions below.

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Now I have a somewhat clearer vision of my whimsical handmade purse in my head.  Since I make my bags from recycled fabric, I check my stash and find some drapery fabric that has the right weight and body but it’s white — pretty and may work but I keep looking.  Next I find a blouse, it’s black with kind of an oriental pattern on it, that will work with the pattern but it’s not going to quite give me the whimsical style I’m looking for.  I think I’ll go with the white and add some sort of embellishments to fancy it up. 

For embellishments I have a little trouble locating anything that I like in my stash so off to the dollar store I go.  I come home with several things I can use, a toddler’s tutu made out of blue netting with sparkles on it, a couple of doll clothes accessories that have boas attached, some plastic butterflies, some silk flowers and a sheer purple polyester camisole.  I decide that I will make the outside of the purse from the tutu and line it with the white fabric, perhaps adding a butterfly or two on the outside or maybe between the layers.  I’ll save the camisole, boas and flowers for another pattern I found.  Stay tuned and I will post my results soon.  In the meantime, you can check out my other handmade purses on my etsy site at http://stufffrombarb.etsy.com.

Technorati Tags: cute handbags, cute purses, handmade purse

 Yikes! I just committed to do this year’s annual Fall Craft Festival
and now I need to create some new cute handbags for my inventory.  I
still have a handmade purse or two left from the spring show and need make a list
of everything I have on hand.  Some of the items I have left, like the
fabric lunch bags that I made way to many of, I will put on sale or in
a bargan bin.  One thing that I think will help me get organized is to
make a list of all the different styles to make so that each handmade
purse will be one of a kind.  Once I decide on the styles, I will think
about features for each one that will make them functional as well as
cute handbags.  When making handbags, I use recycled materials to
create green handbags, which is one of the unique selling points I will
be using.  Wow, so much to think about. 

• The marketing highlights:  unique, one of a kind, green handbags
• The
  styles:  Organizer purse, crochet purse, drawstring purse, mesh purse,
  zipper purse, quilted purses, patchwork handbags, travel handbag,
  silver handbags, quilted backpack, drawstring backpacks, mini backpacks
  and silver evening bags are some of the styles I want to include.  If I
  have time and am up for the challenge, I may even try my hand at a
  felted purse or a clear backpack. 

• The features:
  Different types of closures, magnetic, zippered, drawstring, snapped,
  tied or with a flap.  Other features will include the type of pocket,
  open at the top patch pockets on the inside and outside of the purse,
  zippered inside pocket, pockets with a ring attached to keep track of
  your keys; dividers inside the purse and maybe even some handbag
  charms.  

What style and features would you be interested in when thinking of a handmade purse?

Technorati Tags: cute handbags, green handbags, handmade purse, organizer purse, quilted purses