Thursday, July 5, 2012

Liberty Circle Frame Purse


Hi everyone, I'm Katy and I blog over at The Littlest Thistle.  In an effort to make her blog look popular while she's away sunning herself, Kim's asked me to step in and do a post this week (or is that to make me look popular whilst she's away sunning herself...? ;o) )  Anywho, how could I say no to the friend that hooked me up with some gold dust like Heather Ross?  Because of the aforementioned HR goodness, I owe her a pressie, and I thought I'd be ultra-cheeky and post here how I made it, and also incorporate another challenge that I'm running this month for Candi at Raccoon Creek Creations.  The question is, what to give a woman that has everything goldfish?  Why, Liberty of course!


Since the Fat Quarterly Retreat in London at the beginning of June, frame purse fever has swept the Brit crowd, and we're knee deep in a post-retreat swap right now, which in turn kind of gave me the notion to make loads of these babies!  Not wanting to make a plain outer for my purse for Kim, I thought I would incorporate an inset circle of feature fabric, which brings me to the challenge I'm running, which is to try out a variety of inset circle methods from tutorials scattered around the interweb... (I'm a big fan of bumping off a whole flock of birds with one boulder ;o) ) 

To create one of these, you will need:

1 purse frame, around 5" wide
1 fat eighth main outer fabric
1 bunch fabric scraps for the inset circle (bunch being one of those technical measurements ;o) )
1 fat eighth lining fabric
1 fat eighth low loft fusible fleece or thermolam
1 fat eighth fusible woven interfacing
1/2 yard piping cord
freezer paper
compass and ruler
paper scissors
small sharp pair of fabric scissors (I use embroidery scissors)
fabric glue stick
protractor  

To make it up:

1. Design your purse pattern onto the freezer paper - Making By Rebecca Lynne did a great job on a series on how to make up your own pattern using the frame you have.  I'm not going to put my pattern up for you to grab since there are so many shapes and sizes of frames, and it's unlikely you'll have one identical to mine (not that I don't like to share, honest!)  Go and check out this link on how to design a pattern using your own frame.  You'll want the bit below the frame to extend about 4 1/2" straight down as we're going to box the corners too.


2. This part of the tutorial was gleaned as the 'best of' from several blogs, so I'll walk you right through.  Now you've got your pattern, work out what sized circle you want (this is a very organic tutorial, choose a size to suit you/your frame, bearing in mind you need to leave a seam allowance for the purse body)  I'm intending to box the corners by 1 1/2", and to use a 1/4" seam allowance, so I've drawn a line 1 3/4" from the bottom of my pattern to mark out my 'no go' area for my circle.  Use your compasses to draw a circle the size you want your end circle to be, then draw another circle inside with a radius of 1/2" less than the end circle.  


3. Now use your freezer paper pattern to cut out the following pieces:

2 x outer fabric (note that because I used linen for this, I also used fusible woven interfacing here - don't iron the freezer paper to that when cutting out ;o) )
2 x lining fabric
2 x fusible fleece/thermolam

4. Using your paper scissors, cut out the inner circle on your pattern piece, then transfer the circle marking onto your fabric and cut that out too.  Now cut the larger circle out of the freezer paper, and iron the freezer paper onto the back of one of your outer fabric pieces.


5. Take your small, sharp fabric scissors and make regular snips up to 1/8" from the edge of the freezer paper all the way round, then fold the fabric 'teeth' over the edge of the freezer paper and press very well in place:



6. Now set your purse pieces aside and grab your bunch of scraps and your fusible woven interfacing.  Cut a square of the interfacing at least 1" wider than the circular opening you created.  Now take everything over to your ironing board and using your scraps, arrange them in a pleasing manner on top of this square in a rather crazy paving type way.  You are best armed with a pair of small fabric scissors for trimming things to fit at this point (bearing in mind you can leave bits overhanging the edges too as they can be trimmed off afterwards).


7. Once you're happy with your placement take your iron and press according to the fusible interfacing manufacturer's instructions.

8. Head over to your sewing machine, choose a short, narrow zig zag stitch, and stitch along every join in the scraps.


9. Picking up your purse outer fabric again, get your fabric glue stick and apply a little glue to the top of each of the 'teeth', then carefully remove the freezer paper from underneath.  Place your scrappy fabric piece right side down onto the glue, then press in place.



10. Turn your fabric over so that the purse outer fabric is facing up, showing off your circle of scrappiness.  Gently lift the outer fabric in one section to reveal the teeth glued to the fabric.  Using an open toed or clear foot on your sewing machine, follow the pressed line from step 5 to stitch all the way round.  (Note that in the effort to try being scientific, I tried out my walking foot (which I usually use) my zipper foot and my regular presser foot, and the regular foot was the best)



11. Press very carefully in place, then trim off the excess seam allowance at the back, leaving about 1/4" in place.



12.  Now you're going to assemble your purse, so I'm going to send you back over to Rebecca Lynne's to see her purse assembly tutorial, including boxed corners.  I boxed mine by 1" either side of the seam, in case you were wondering.  And here's the final result:


In the manner of full disclosure I should say I fluffed my side measurement a bit below the hinges, I'm sorry Kim, but I'll make you another one if you like!

The verdict on the circle was good, I actually have a round circle (the photo in the frame above is somewhat distorted by the pouch being stuffed with things, hence it's not lying flat, but trust me, it's round...)  I'm not sure I'd want to be doing a whole quilt of blocks where I had to glue things down though, I fear I might get a little flak happy in the end (if not high on the glue - can you get high on pritt stick?!)

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