My new purse!

I love, love, love the fabric from the Holiday Mini catalog! I am working on several projects using it and I can't wait to show you. Today I am going to share with you a purse that my Aunt and I created using the Deck the Halls fabric. I cannot sew well, but my Aunt can so I cut and she sews. A win/win for us. We created the pattern just by copying some purses that we already owned. We added the ruffles by using the Scallop Circle die and sewing them together. I do not own the table setting die yet so we improvised. I saw a purse very close to this on the Stampin Up! demonstrator website so we made our own version. I am working on a felt flower to go on the straps. That will be posted shortly. I would love to know what you think!

We added a zipper because I need a zipper or everything falls out. My Aunt tied a little scrap of fabric on the zipper pull. Too cute!

We added 3 pockets on the inside along with another piece of the Deck the Halls fabric. It is sort of quilted a la Vera Bradley, but better because we made it ourselves! ")

Here is a close up of the ruffles. If you look closely at the ruffles you can see green ribbon. We used Always Artichoke 1/4 inch grosgrain ribbon to finish the ruffles. You can't really see the ribbon when you are carrying the purse, just at this angle. Of course we used the Chantilly Lace to finish the top.

I cannot wait to use the new fabric in the 2011 Occasions Mini! Sooooo many possibilities!!!!!

I would love to know what you think and answer any questions that you might have.

Happy Stampin and Sewin!
Melissa