My latest purse creations

I recycle a few things to make this unique purse. The purse itself started out as a skirt I found for $1.00 at the Good Will. I loved the zipper pockets on the front and back so I snatched it up right away.



The inside and handles is a piece of upholstery fabric which I think gives it a sort of Southwest feel.



This closure clasp is the ends off a strap I found while digging through my belt box. This was the solution to my problem of finding something that would work between the two buttons on the waistband.



Lastly the leather strips and the leather conchos were off of an old belt I had in my stash. I love picking up unusual belts at the good will!


This is another purse I made from a skirt, I loved the red-white-&blue rhinestones on this skirt and just had to use it. It was another find at the second hand shop for $1.00!!


I used a belt for handles on this one also, but the it took me a while to figure out how to get the leather pieces attached for the closure. After breaking three machine needles I finally just sewed them on by hand, it took a bit longer but it worked much better than breaking all my needles!

The carpet bag

This is one big purse, it's a large tote bag made from a vintage vest and some upholstery fabric. I made this one for a shop owner in Smithville. I went into her vintage and antique shop the other day to look around and she asked me about the purse I was carrying. I came out of the shop with this vest to make a purse for her. She wanted it to resemble the large carpet bags, which I think it does.

Today I made a purse for myself!! My friends keep telling me that I need a new one since all summer I've been using the purse I made last winter from a sweater, so today I made one that will be great for fall. I love the colors and I used the yellow striped fabric on the inside. I used one upholstery sample for the outside, fabric from a mans shirt for the inside and then the top and the handle are pieces of denim for a old pair of jeans. I used the wrong side of the denim because the right side was rather ratty looking. The button came from my stash so it's 100% recycled.

Labrador purse

This is my latest purse, I'm adding embroidery pictures to them now and made a little coin purse to go with it. I used my favorite creative supply of old blue jeans and upholstery fabric samples.

Finished Purse!!

Since I don't work on Friday I managed to get up this morning before 8:00A and finish a purse I've been working on for a couple weeks. My regular job just seems to keep getting in the way of finishing my projects!! I was trying to figure out the best way to take a picture of my new creation and my son was standing in the kitchen watching me. I was talking about my new blog, my list of projects and just chatting with him about what was next on my list for the day. He laughed and said "You're really going to enjoy your retirement aren't you mom." I smiled and told him I was definitely going to have a wonderful retirement of creating!

This purse was made for my friend Teri, she came over one day and picked out the fabric for the purse. Needless to say she was a bit overwhelmed by my selection of supplies (i.e. preloved but usable fabric). For the lining I used an old pair of jeans and decided to use the wrong side since the right side would have made the inside too dark and hard to find anything.

Purses created by recycling jeans and scraps