Sorry to have been quiet lately. I’ve had some projects that didn’t come out as well as I’d hoped which – like books that need a tweak – are in the midst of revisions. I’ll show you them when I’ve fixed them up the way I like. I also was finishing up a book and publishing it.

I have finished the knitting on the black KSH cardigan of doom. (Phew!) I need a sunny day to seam the sleeves and set them in. My Ravelry project page says that one’s been on the needles for eight years – I hope that isn’t true, that I created the project before I cast on, but even so. I have projects that have been on the needles longer than that. Gah. I have a belated case of finish-itis now. I’ll show you that when it’s finally done.

Today let’s talk about purses for 12″ fashion dolls. This is a silly little project that keeps going on and on. The thing with making for the girls is that I always see more variations. I could get stuck exploring the possibilities of one pattern for a very VERY long time, which is kind of what has happened here. I’ve made a lot (a LOT) of these little purses. They’re quick and easy, and they come out really well. It’s almost instant gratification, and I’ve needed a bit of that lately.

I found this image on PInterest when I was ogling gorgeous suits for Silkstone Barbies. (There is some fabulous stuff there and many very talented makers in the world.) It’s in Japanese and from a book for dolls called My Favorite Dolls. That’s pretty much all I know from that one page. You can see that there’s a purse and a pair of jackets illustrated. I’ve no idea where the jacket patterns are – maybe on the facing page? – but there’s the purse pattern right there. I grabbed a screen shot and printed it out. There’s also no scale, so I just guessed it was from a page roughly 8.5″ by 11″ and printed it to fit the page. My purse pattern came out about 4.25″ long and the scale is great for the girls.

And then the fun began.

The directions are in Japanese, but like so many Japanese patterns, it’s pretty easy to figure out what to do. Japanese patterns always include such lovely illustrations in the instructions.

Here are the first ones.

I used my go-to fake leathers first – the shiny black I use for almost everything and a matte burgundy. They’re the two in the top row. The burgundy one has a brass-like button with a butterfly on it. 🙂

For each purse, I folded the handle and glued it – nothing fancy here. I used a gluestick, then put a weight on it until it dried. I did learn over the first couple that it’s easier to do as much as you can while the purse is flat. So, I sew on the half of the snap under the flap and the decorative button over it, then put on the handle. I use a seed bead as a decorative accent on the handle, one that matches the accent button on the front. Then I fold up the purse and press the snap into the body of the purse to make an indent where the other side of the snap needs to be, and sew it on in place.

When seaming the sides, I do a few overcast stitches at the top. When turning the bag right side out, there’s a bit of stress on those two seams at the top, so a little extra reinforcement can’t hurt. When I get to the base, I just tack in the top of the flap from the base of the purse. Turn the purse, ease out the sideseams and fiddle that flap until it looks right. Presto, purse.

The next pair are made from the very cheapest fake leather. I bought a set of 12 squares of craft vinyl, each 5×5″ or so, two each of six colours, at the dollar store. Each purse takes less than half a square. These next two, in red and the caramel, are from that vinyl. The vinyl is stiff enough that the purse holds its shape well.

I even cut an extra strap for the caramel one and added a buckle to that one. The strap is the width to pass easily through the buckle. I cut it an inch too long then trimmed it once the bag was assembled. I glued it in place while working on it, but the glue didn’t hold. Good thing the snap halves are sewn through the beginning and the end of that strap, and will hold it in place forever.

The red one has a fleur-de-lis accent button and I thought it needed even more zing. I used a black Sharpie to outline the edge of the flap and I think it looks great.

Next up, some sample vinyl pieces found at the thrift store. The individual pieces in thiis bundle of different fake leathers is about 5 x 8″. Again, that’s more than enough for a purse. There’s even a piece of cork in there but it seemed too thick for this purse. (Will the girls have cork purses before I do? I’m thinking they will.) I used a dark brown from that bundle and a metallic gold, which got extra beads on the flap for embellishment. (It looks silvery here but is more golden IRL.)

The raw edge does show along the front flap, the top of the bag and at those bottom corners. If the fake leather has a light backing – the dark brown one, for example, has a white backing – I colour the edges with a Sharpie marker in a matching colour.

Then I looked at the fabric ones with the bead handles. I chose two brocades, one firmer than the other, and a bit of silk. (The silk is at the top left.) I interfaced all of them with fusible interfacing before cutting out the pattern, then finished the edges of the top and flap of the bag with a zigzag stitch in a coordinating colour of thread. I also used Fraycheck on the other edges to keep them from unravelling. I don’t love this stuff, since it’s essentially glue. It often marks the fabric and leaves it crunchy – that bit is less of an issue for a purse than for a garment, but still. It didn’t mark the white, but it did mark the other two, so I sewed that little base triangle on all three purses to keep the stain and/or edges from showing.

The silk one has a fake leather handle and a little crown button, which is adorable. Sharpies are your friend here, too – where the fabric showed through the thread on the edge of the flap, I just coloured it in with a matching marker.

It looks as though the pattern recommends the beads be on thread, but I wanted a stiffer handle than that. I fed them onto beading wire, then poked the ends of the wire through the fabric and twisted it on the inside so it won’t pull back through.

Finally, I was wishing I had some more fun colours of fake leather and wondered about felt. Why not? It doesn’t unravel. This is synthetic felt and I used three doll buttons in a contrasting colour. The “embroidery” was done with sewing thread held double – I did it after sewing on the button and snap. I think this one is really cute and I do have a lot of fun felt colours. There may be more of these.

You can see these purses are like potato chips. It’s impossible to stop with just one, or three…or ten.

Of course, I also drafted the pattern a bit bigger so I can make similar purses for the 16″ girls. Purses abound!

Next time, I’ll show you my new girl and get her to model one of the purses so you can see it in scale.