How to make a {Girly} purse

6 Dec By trisha haas 14 Comments

A few weeks ago I was signed up for a Christmas stocking exchange with another blogger. Part of the rules (which I made myself and started to regret) was that you needed to be creative in your stocking….you could glue it, iron it, sew it, but you had to incorporate some sort of “making” it. As I looked around, I decided that it would be totally cheesing out of me to just get some letters and iron her name on a premade red stocking.

One thing about me is I cannot sew.

I cannot sew worth crap.

So I had to come up with another way that didn’t require some Grade A Grandma Type Sewing.

However, one thing I am is crafty. Creative. A problem solver. Sorta.

What you are about to see below is what I learned doing the stocking. After I figured a few things out, I went back and used the same technique to create a purse for Charlotte. I am going to share how to make a pretty purse, but also show you the pictures of the original stocking that inspired it.

Both things were made the same way and you can create your own items this way in any shape or size.

You will need:

Old shipping box
glue gun and glue
quilt batting
1/2 yard material
1/8th inch ribbon to sew with
large needle
straight razor
felt for the inside of the purse
1 1/2 inch silk ribbon for the strap

The project cost me about $7 total, because I had batting, felt, glue, and ribbon at home.

Directions To create A Purse

(or Stocking)

1) First you need to decide the size of the purse. I measured and cut out the sides of the purse, both should be the same size (or as close as possible, I’m not an overly perfect cutter) and then used the straight razor to cut them out from the box. Be careful you dont cut up your rug, floor, or leg in this process.

(craft kitty gwennie)

2) After I had my two sides, I glue gunned the cardboard and added (double) batting to both of them so they were nice and fluffy.

3) I then laid out the material and left approx 1/2-1 inch on all sides. I put the batting part straight down (as it was the front of the purse) and glued the material to the back.

4) Cut out felt and lay in a square to “finish” the back, which in this case, is the inside of the purse.

5) I went back and measured and cut a bottom in the same length as the sides (but the width I wanted the purse to be, I just eyeballed it) and the strips that went up the side. I did not add batting, just material and felt. This should leave you with 5 pieces of covered cardboard.

6) Here is where the mock sewing comes in. Because you are sewing card board and using ribbon, your going to want to use a large thick needle. I had one the perfect size in my needle pack. I opted for a 1/8th ribbon stitching on the outside. I first took one main side (with batting) and a smaller side (without batting) and started my ribbon stitching through the material and connected to the other sides material. I followed this all the way down and around and back up to the other side. There were points I had to go through the cardboard and not just the material, but overall it was just connecting material to material.

7) Complete all sides and bottom this way. It took me about an hour and my fingers hurt by the time I was done, but the affect was cute.

8 ) Once done stitching, your purse should be pretty solid and stand up on its own!

9) Personally I wanted some more frill, so I added a ruffle around and had some extra, so I put the extra on the front and added a ribbon rosette to denote the front of the purse. I then took some 1 1/2 silk ribbon and hot glued it on the inside (side wall) and cut it at an appropriate length for Charlotte and secured int eh same fashion on the opposite side, leaving a shoulder strap.

My purse was slightly higher on the top than the sides I cut but I dont think Charlotte noticed. That’s the great thing about crafting for a 5 year old.

Finished!

This is the same exact technique I used for this stocking. Because of the batting, I did not iron on the letters or it would have defluffed it.I hot glued them on at the end. I also only used a front and a back and sewed the two sides together directly.

I used a flexible cardboard so I could put stuff inside when I was done.

That’s it! I hope this inspires you to create some stockings or some purses and handbags on your own! If you liked this post, please consider “stumbling”, “Digging” or sharing it with others so they can learn too.

Happy Crafting!

Trisha

Filed Under: Crafting Tagged With: crafting, Crafts, DIY, do it yourself, how to make a hairbow holder, how to make a purse, how to make a tutu, kids purse, tutorial

How to make a Christmas Hair Bow Holder

19 Nov By trisha haas 11 Comments

The other night I went out and bought some Christmas crafts with full intentions on making a stand up ribbon Christmas tree with a Styrofoam cone. Then I had trouble figuring out how to wrap it with fancy paper how I wanted and thought…ok, what else can i do with this ribbon.

Here is what I created…A Christmas Tree HairBow holder …you know, if you are in the mood to totally redecorate your house for the holidays. Why not, right? Plus, its a fun and easy project to do while watching TV and really does hold a ton of bows.

How to make a Christmas Tree Hairbow Holder

do it yourself instructions

Materials

Canvas
ribbon spools..i used 8 spools that I got on sale at Hobby Lobby for $1 a piece
hot glue
little dots for “Christmas balls”, $1.99 a package, 2 packages

Instructions:

1) The first thing I did was trace out my Christmas Tree. I just used a piece of card board and did two slanted lines. I then added horizontal lines in the middle to create different layers. The lines add as a trace for your craft.

2) Now pick up a ribbon and this is what you will use to measure your bottom row. I left some slack and made a loop, starting at the top line and adjusting so it looped back up. Once I had the right length, i added ribbon from the spool and cut out a ton of green ribbons the exact size I would need to make loops. I trimmed the edges to make sure they were even and hot glued each loop together.

3) Start attaching loops in a row on the bottom line till it goes all the way across your “tree”.

4) After I had the row completed, I took a secondary piece and measured out all the way across the loops to “finish” the top. Although you cant see this part once its finished, it made me feel like it was more secure.

5) Continue the same process with all the rest of the layers to the top. I alternated colors and patterns for my tree.

6) Once I got to the top, I made 10 extra loops and glued together in the middle to create a “star” on the top.

7) Then I took these little tiny dots that looked like Christmas balls and hot glued them all over the tree. My cat later found it and ate off about 10 of them.

You can also buy little buttons that look like snowflakes or gingerbread men and glue those on..or they have ones that look like little light strings.

8 ) Then I hung in the bathroom and you can see how easy it is to attach your hairbows!

And look, your hairbows are providing decoration on your tree…so cute. You could also do this and put your little loops in other patterns like a star, circle, etc and it would all hold bows. Just get out your creative hat for some fun!

If you liked this post, consider sharing the link with your crafting friends, teweeting, or stumbling…

Happy Crafting!

~Trisha

PS Check out my other How to make a Hair Bow Holder post.

Filed Under: Crafting Tagged With: christmas crafts, christmas tree, crafting, hairbow holder, hairbow holder tutorial, hairbows, holders, how to make a hair bow holder, how to make a hairbow holder

How to make a hairbow holder

25 Oct By trisha haas 43 Comments

As you may or may not know about me, I can make a mean tutu hair bow holder.

But I am not here to showcase those but instead teach you how to make a hairbow holder that will help you encase your beautiful hairbows, headbands, and pony-o’s in one beautiful display. I have thought a lot about how I could hang Charlottes ponytail holders (also know as Pony-O’s) so here is what I came up with yesterday.

How To make a Hair Bow Holder ( tutorial and do it yourself project):

You will need:

a Canvas the size of the holder you are making ( i used a 8.5/11.5)
Hot glue or staple gun
1 inch grosgrain ribbon
enough material to cover canvas, a half a yard should be more than enough
any decorative pieces you want to girly up the holder
velcro
3/8ths satin ribbon

The first thing you do for your hair bow holder is to cut your material and put your canvas on top of it. I chose to use hot glue because its what I had on hand, but you can secure with staples as well if you have a staple gun. I folded the edges so they were even and hot glued down.

Continuing all the way around, I did the top and the bottom and then secured the sides much like you would a Christmas package.

The next step is to prepare your ribbons.

If you want just a hair bow holder, you can do a very easy design where you stripe all your ribbons down in a row and secure. Make sure they are long enough to go to the back side and hot glue or staple down.

I wanted to do a headband holder and a pony-o holder so I had more of an “all around” hair bow holder. I am not sure about you, but our house isn’t just caked in bows, its caked in ALL of it.

I first put on my hair bow holder ribbon and then centered the rest around that. I decided to make a headband ribbon, which is a design I use for my hair-bow holders. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of this process so Ill have to demo this way. By taking a long piece of grosgrain and putting a dab of hot glue every 1.5 inches and laying the other half down to secure it. This essentially leaves you with a ribbon with “holes” in it more or less that you can drop a headband into it.

Now to prep the pony-o holder, I took a satin ribbon and doubled the length I wanted it to be and cut. So if I wanted a 2 inch down, I cut a 4 inch ribbon. I sliced up 2 pieces of velcro and glued onto the ribbon so when the ends connected, the Velcro stuck together.

I tied a bow and placed on the top to give it a finished look.

After that, its just about doing a layout on your canvas and putting together. I went through several design layouts before I found one that worked for me. Originally I put my headband holder on the bottom and the pony-o holder on the top, but decided I need more space to hang the pony’s, so I took off and redid.

Just get creative with the hairbow ribbons that you have and think about the space you need so you don’t crowd them. There really isn’t a point to taking them out of the drawer so they don’t get smashed if you just smash them up again.

TIP: While I didn’t finish the back (I left the canvas open), you can always cut felt the same size and hot glue or staple down so its a nice smooth back.

I know I have been doing a lot of crafting blogs lately, but crafting your own fashion doesn’t get any better! I find that it all relates because what I cant find to fit Charlotte exactly, I just make. I hope they are helping someone fru-fru up the little girl in their life!

Don’t forget to check out these other crafting posts on momdot: