Knocking Off - Again!!

I hate purses.  I hate having to carry one because it just catches all my junk and trash.  Yes - - trash!!  If I don't see a trash can, bam - - in the purse it goes.........  I hate buying purses.  I hate spending money on purses....... 

Well, last year, I was invited to a Thirty One party.  So, I bought...........

A purse.


I know - - what was I thinking??   Well.   I bought the purse that you can change the outside 'skirt' to make it look like a different purse.  And I really like that part about it.


Yep  - -

There's a BUT in there....

I'm not so thrilled with their choices of fabric this year.   I'm not the kind of girl to carry a bright purse. 

And I just didn't find one that I liked to go with the brown purse.  So - - I bought...........


Another one........... 

I know - - what was I thinking???

Well, the new one is black and I bought the skirt that is black with white swirls...... 

But I still didn't see any new 'skirts' for the brown one...........

Last week when I was shopping at Hobby Lobby, I found some wonderful fabric that I could use to make a skirt for my brown purse.  I think it turned out ok.  Actually, I really like it, but....  If you know anything about these purses, you'll know what I'm talking about.....


The part that hooks to the purse, that's under the flaps?  Well, it has a weird curve.  And since I'm not a seamstress, I just don't know how to make that part of it.

I looked for a pattern online, but I couldn't find one.  I see where people are making these, but they're just not sharing their pattern.......   So......I took the stitching out of the corners on my first skirt, and used that as my template.

I stitched up the sides (My new sewing maching does the edge stitching to keep your fabric from fraying - - how sweet is that?!?!?!?!?) and then stitched the bottom.

Then I 'opened' the corners, and matched the side seam to the bottom seam, and ironed it flat.

I measured how long the seam was at the corner on the original skirt.  It was 3", so I moved my ruler up the seam until I had 1 1/2" on each side of it.  I drew a line and stitched it.

At this point, I just kind of winged it.  I folded the top down and stitched it.  I made 4 button holes on each side to slip the hooks into that hold the skirt in place under the flap.  I didn't take pictures because this is the part I'm not 'getting' how to make. 

Here's what the finished product looks like......  I really like it.

I found some really great black, grey and white paisley.  I'm going to make one for the black purse next!!!

Thanks for looking!!

Hugs ~~ Suz

I'm linking up here:

My Ballard Knock Off!

I've posted a few times the fact that I'm in the process of redoing my master bedroom.  I've chosen to do it in chocolate brown and aqua. 

Using this collection of prints from Ballard as my 'model', I made my own wall art.

I saw this in the first catalog I received from Ballard and have been in love with the prints - - NOT the price!!  Can you believe they want $169 for the collection????  I knew I could come up with something a lot cheaper!!

I've been wanting to make my knock off for some time, but finding a SQUARE frame was NOT an easy task.  Plenty of rectangle frames to choose from, but square????  Nope. 

I ended up going into GoodWill one afternoon and found 2 square frames!!  They were $3 each!!  YAY!!

I had to sand them both down, and then I repainted them in my Edelweiss paint and sanded a little more to distress them. 

For the picture itself, I just used different cardstock and cut most of the shapes with my cricut using my Sure Cuts A Lot program.

I used Coordinations Paper.  I sanded it, inked it, and used markers.  I used a tan colored sharpie on the center flower and I love how it gave it some detail with out overdoing the definition.....  I love Coordinations paper!!

I hope you like my knock off.   It was a fun project to do.  But....  I think I'm going to re-do my picture.....

I've been searching for fabric for my bedding, and since I can't find THE fabric I love in these colors, I believe I'm going to have to use different colors and go with something else.........  I'm so sad.  I found fabric that I love in these colors in the current Quilt magazine.  It's Bella by Possibilities for Quilting Treasures.  The collection has 14 different fabrics and I designed my quilt to use all 14.  The bad news???  I can't find the whole collection anywhere!!  Seriously thinking about 'opening' my own business so I can get it from the manufacturer......  but I'd have to buy full bolts of each, and I am just not made of money!!!  And then what would I do with all the fabric I didn't use???  I don't think I would like the fabric as much if I used it to decorate the WHOLE HOUSE!!!  Mr. Inspiring would have a cow, too!!

Oh, well.........  I'll figure it out.  Maybe I'll come up with a color combo I like even better!!  I hope so, because I really had my sights set on this one!!!

Have a happy and safe 4th of July!! 

Hugs ~~ Suz

I'm linking up to these FANTABULOUS parties!!












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