“Pop it in your purse, Honey!” (New pattern and fabric design)

A couple of years ago I designed a little needle book for a swap that the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild did with the London (England) MQG. I thought it’d be neat to have a little pocket to keep a little stash of embroidery thread or a few emergency sewing kit buttons in. Here’s what I came up with:

It turned out really sweetly and I was sad to give it up, but that’s a good thing when you’re making for someone else. The recipient loved it, so it was well received. A few people asked me if the pattern was available. I said that I was working on it. Well, here I am two years later announcing my new pattern: “Pop it in your purse, Honey” now available in my Etsy shop. Better late than never, right?!

There are a few novel features to this design: Firstly it has a 3D flap on the purse, which is unusual for foundation piecing patterns. And there are 4 design options for the flap, so that you can make a whole collection of purses if you are a purse fanatic.

My favourite thing about it is that the main part of the bag has a functioning pocket. Yes, you read that right, you can stash something cute in this purse even though it’s paper-pieced! I guess that was the packaging designer in me coming out. I love containers that you can keep treasures in. And this little purse does not disappoint in that department! Embroidery floss for the road or emergency sewing kit supplies such as a few buttons and carded thread, or a sweet note if you’re giving it as a gift.

I designed the paper piecing pattern for the purse in two sizes. The larger size is 6″ and is great for a mini quilt or a little girl’s quilt. A friend suggested that it would make a cute little tooth fairy pillow with a pocket for the tooth. I love this idea!

The smaller size is 4″ which is ideal for a needle book.

The pattern also includes instructions to make this needle book, which has a sneaky hidden scissor pocket at the back. (It’s slightly tweaked from the original one I made for the swap.)

So with emergency sewing supplies in the pocket, it’s really it’s more like a mini sewing kit than a needle book, which is super handy.

To see some examples that others have made of this block check Instagram: #Popitinyourpursehoney

PURSE PARAPHERNALIA fabric

Since I was on a roll with all things purse related, I decided to design some fabric with the same theme. I am crazy about fabric that I can fussy cut for zakka projects, and this fabric is designed with that in mind. It would also make a fabulous lining for a purse or bag, given that it lists pretty much anything and everything that we stash in our purses and handbags. It’s called Purse Paraphernalia and is available in six colours here in my TEXT FABRICS collection section of my Spoonflower shop.