Purse Palooza – Pattern Review – Scrap Happy Purse

This post is part of Purse Palooza 2015. For full details and contest rules, check here.
Today’s post is from Tara of tinkerfrog.

Happy fall!  I’m thrilled to be here, reviewing a pattern for Sara and all of you avid bag makers.  I’m Tara Rebman, aka tinkerfrog, and Craftsy instructor of Quilt-As-You-Go Patchwork Bags.

Have you seen the Scrap Happy Purse by Amanda Jean Nyberg?  I love a good patchwork bag, and this one is very cute and true to Amanda Jean’s style! I’ve been friends with Amanda Jean for years, so it was a natural choice to pull this pattern from my pile of things that I want to make, but haven’t gotten to yet.

I also decided to work with a medium I had been dying to try out as well, Kraft-Tex, a paper that acts like fabric, and looks like leather.  I know, right?  My thoughts exactly.  I thought I’d give it a spin, and give you my professional opinion.  This is what the printed label on the waistband of classic Levi’s is made out of for a frame of reference.

Firstly, this pattern is really straightforward, and well written.  It’s a fairly basic tote pattern, but the creative possibilities are endless!  You make eight scrappy, strip panels, arrange them in the most eye pleasing way, and voila!  It’s really not much more involved than that.  The quilting of my panels took me the most time, but this is a great afternoon project, and would make a fantastic gift.

The scrappy panels were shortened by a few inches, so I could add a bottom of the Kraft-Tex to the bag.  I had seen this product at quilt market in the spring, and was quite intrigued.  One bag maker said that she dampens it before sewing.  The instructions don’t reflect that, but they do say it is washable.

I cut a 12″ x 18″ Kraft-Tex rectangle, rounded two corners, and folded it into a simple clutch, so I could experience sewing with this before I added it to my bag.  I used Aurifil 12 wt as both my bobbin and top thread, since all the stitching would be visible.  My tension wasn’t perfect, but it was more than good enough!  I changed my needle out to a 90/14 sharp.  It’s not hard to sew on, but it’s not all that fun either.  The layers tend to slip a bit, so make sure you’ve got them lined up well.

When my scrappy panels were quilted, I added the bottom panels to each side before assembling the outer bag.  Boxing the corners was alot like sewing through cardboard, which, while it made me want to make a clutch out of cool corrugated cardboard, didn’t really thrill me with this project.

Next up, I had to make a decision about the handles.  I have some gorgeous hot pink leather handles that I planned on using, but the Kraft-Tex was needing some love, and since “washable” is on the label, I decided I needed washable handles.    Now, I’ve made handles with leather and piping cord before with lovely results.  Less so with this product.  The first one was really disappointing, in that I wanted it to curve, and it wanted to bend, with a lot of creases. So, I tried getting the Kraft-Tex wet for the second one.  It was easier to sew, because it shifted less when wet.  But it’s really strange sewing with wet anything.

After that, I made the super easy lining with a basic slot pocket. The pattern has a nifty tip about sewing these fancy little triangles at the corners of the pocket to add more strength.  Love that!  The pattern doesn’t specify the kind of interfacing, but I definitely recommend a heavier weight like Pellon 809 Decor Bond, or Heat’n’Bond Firm.

I sewed the lining and outer bag together and was finished!

But, then…..

I washed and dried it.  And shed a little tear, because it looked terrible.

So, I washed it again, but didn’t dry it.  Stuffed it full of towels to shape it.

It’ll do.

The Scrap Happy Purse pattern by Amanda Jean Nyberg is a simple versatile, pattern, that you can get a lot of mileage out of.  Kraft-Tex has potential–to be cool or disastrous.  Try at your own risk.