Sew In No 2

I never thought this day was coming, but the dreaded silk purse is finished. It did not even take that long – a few hours in the afternoon and a trip to the local quilt shop (which included a nice dinner with husband; love Fridays!) – and the purse is ready for MIL’s 70th birthday on Monday.
I took some pictures during the process for a how-to, but unless I start a new blog called Mrs Moen How-not-tos, I’d better leave it up to those experiences purse makers.

The first thing I tried was fusible interfacing highly recommended by many friends. That did not stick, the silk was too slippery. I fixed that one by sewing wonky horizontal lines through silk and interfacing.
The next thing I tried was fusing the batting to the interfacing. The interfacing bubbled and stretched, but the batting stuck - kind of. I fixed that one by quilting vertical lines through all 3 layers.
The next steps were easy and included a zillion little bits of silk threads everywhere, but at last I had a quilted silk rectangle and a black cotton lining rectangle unintentionally decorated with colourful clingy silk. Somehow those two pieces magically turned into a finished bag without too much trouble.

The plan was to make the bag with 3 pieces so that nothing would be upside down. This plan was abandoned rather quickly, I believe somewhere between trying the fuse the interfacing and stitching it. This means that the back side is upside down. Oh well!
The silk being so delicate, I did not really want a handle, so the lovely staff member at the shop suggested a round polyester ribbon. It fits the purse perfectly, goes all around the flap (lid??) and is stitched in the sides so that she can adjust the length or remove it if she wants. The magnetic button thingie was the perfect way to close the bag, not visible on the front.
I do hope she will like it !