Crochet hand bag - part three

Part one
Part two

These days, I tend to carry very little. Gone are the days of bags as big as suitcases, where I kept everything under the sun, including spare diapers and a change of clothes for the kids. *L* Now, I have my phone, my keys, and a few cards, which I usually keep in my jacket pocket when I go out. If, however, I don't have pockets, I need only a small bag, and I still want easy access to those core items.

With the phone problem solved, I turned to a holder for my cards. I actually keep them in old bus pass holders, so that's what I used for my measurement. I made a simple rectangle using hdc stitches that would be folded off centre to make a pocket slightly larger than my card holder.

Here's what the front looks like.



Having the back slightly taller than the front makes for easier access.



The colour change ended up being on the back.



There are two ways I could have done up the sides. I could have stitched it on the outside, making a very flat pocket, or on the inside, where the seam would actually hold the sides apart slightly once flipped rightside out, giving the pocket depth. I decided to do with depth. Here, I'm showing what the whip stitched inside seam looks like.



In attaching the pocket to the bag, I only tacked it in place at the top corners. The width happened to put the corners at the transition area of hdc to sc in the handle strap, so I used my stitches to strengthen that area slightly. Technically, you can see the stitches from the outside, but with the colours matching, you'd really have to be looking for them.



There is the finished bag, except for the liner, which I wasn't sure I was going to make yet. You can also see how much yarn I have left of the 1 ball I bought. This project turned out to be the perfect size for it.

After testing the bag out with the various items I would use it for, I decided it did need a liner after all. My keys would poke out between the stitches, and I didn't want that. So I went digging into our linen closet, searching through our bits and pieces of fabric, to find something suitable. What I found was some fabric my daughter had bought for something else entirely, and she generously said I could use it. :-D

Using the bag itself to measure, I cut a strip slightly wider than the bag, and about twice the length. I hand stitched the liner because I didn't think it was worth digging out and setting up the sewing machine for such a small project. *L* After sewing up the side seams, I basted the top hem in place before tucking it into the bag. I lined up the seams and corners, pinned the edges in place, slightly below the actual top edge of the bag, then flipped the bag inside out (which flipped the liner outside in) to make stitching easier. I used a blind hem stitch to sew it in place. I couldn't find my black sewing thread, so I hid the thread I did use in the yarn of the bag's body. Once it was stitched in place, I removed the basting stitches.



Here's the inside of the finished bag.

I'm rather pleased with the finished result. It was a good project to highlight the yarn, too.

Guest post: Tacky purse of spaciousness +3.

Guest post today, from the daughter of our resident craftster~

Quite a while ago, my mother made me a purse. It was a fine, simple thing, which suffered only from a slight lack of space and pockets. Not a problem at the time, but these days I have found myself in need of such things. This is my first nearly-solo sewing project, (my dearest mother did the first corner-turn on the bottom, and invisibly stitched up my last open seam with her voodoo magic.) and hopefully the first of many.
Anyhow, on to the purse.

No pattern was used because I have a severe neurosis regarding them. I'll get over it eventually...



The fabric was something that caught my eye on a store shelf and which, at the time, I had absolutely no use for. Eventually I decided to buy three metres anyway, just in case. Lucky thing too, since it was gone the next day. It is stiff and sturdy, but surprisingly light and easy to stitch through. Perfect for an amateur such as myself.











As you can see, I like to label things clearly. Thank heavens that charcoal washes off...

















I tried to match up the patterns as best I could. I think it produces a neat effect. Sewing the pockets on was much easier than I had expected. (Even if most of them ended up being a touch crooked..)














This phone-pocket will be modified to include a snap, since I am paranoid. And yes, the pattern is upside-down on purpose.
















The lining fabric was a little bit harder to work with. Quite slippery and prone to sprouting odd little threads at the edges.













I was initially going to sew the lining and the inside pockets in the same fabric, but I realised as I handled the bolt that it generates more static electricity than I would be comfortable stowing my electronic devices around, so the less contact the better.














Assembled, but not ironed. And with a single open seam for flipping.














Fully assembled. There are no pictures of the strap in progress, but I used a very simple method of folding, stitching, and flipping. I doubled up the ends and went over them thrice with the sewing machine to ensure a firm anchor.



















When I first finished, the strap was far longer than I had anticipated, and hung uncomfortably around my knees. In order to fix this, I simply folded the strap over my shoulder and stitched it up twice. Thus adding some extra padding as well.







I will probably modify the overall design as I find new and interesting things to be finicky about, but for now, it is both functional and moderately attractive. (not to mention large enough to fit my smaller drawing pads and notebooks~)

-This has been a message from everyone's favourite reclusive sociopath, and we will return shortly to our usual programming. Thank you for your patience~!

Spin.