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Curved purse frames de-mystified (aka. Dottie Glasses Case)

Thanks go to everyone who has sent me lovely pics of purses which you have been making using

this tutorialthey all look really pretty, and so professional!

Here is another cute-as-you-like purse. This purse is great for keeping your sunglasses or yourreading specs stylishly safe and dry. I have used oil cloth which is great for durability, strength

and keeing things dry. You can make the purse a shorter length if you don't want to make an

glasses case.

I put a cheeky little ribbon bow on the front and used the same ribbon for a detachable wrist loop.

I have used a Modern Silver Curved Frame. Sml;Dottie Oil Cloth in French Blue; and a Nickel

Swivel Bolt Snap 0.5". The whole thing (including pattern making) took less than 1.5 hours!

Note: Many of these instructions are the same as my first purse frame tutorial so I am going to

make my life easier by cutting and pasting the text between the tutorials as much as I can!

Front view (I hope I get to wear my sunnies soon...)

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Flat bottom and side view

Here's how I put it together

Shopping List:

1 x Modern Silver Curved Frame Sml. 1 x Swivel Bolt Snap 3/8" 0.5 yrd Dottie Oil Cloth in French Blue 0.5 yrd lining fabric 0.5 yrd Heavy Weight Sew-in Interlining 1 yrd of 3/8" wide pink gros grain ribbon V. Strong Fabric Glue

1. Make up your purse frame pattern part.1 The next two steps can apply to whatever non

sew-on purse frame you happen to be using. The main reason that patterns are not made for purse

frames is because there are so many purse frame shapes! This means we have to make our own

patterns (ahhhhh!!) Don't worry; it's quite easy...

Take your frame and draw around the outside (just the outside, not the inside) of it, also include

the points where the hinges stop. I can now design my pattern around the outline of the frame.

You will see that the angles of my pattern are quite a bit wider then the angles of my frame, this isbecause you want to create puffiness and body on the front of the purse (if you like, you can make

the angles even wider. The wider the angle the more puffy your purse will be - trust me, it will

work out!) I have also added a 1cm seam allowance onto my desired shape - be sure sure add on

your desired seam allowance to your design.

As you can see I wanted a longish (sunglasses) purse shape but you can design whatever shape (or

length) you want as long as you remember to make the angles of the sides of the pattern wider

than that of your purse frame.

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The black line is the outline of the purse frame. As you can see the distance between the sides of

the purse frame and the side edges of the pattern is larger (3cm) than the distance between thetop of the purse frame and the top edge of the pattern (1cm) - I just drew this curve by free-hand

(go on, you can do it!). Fold the pattern in half length ways to make a crease line for the next

step.

2. Make up your purse pattern part 2 - locating the hinge part of the pattern. An important

bit to get right on our pattern is where the flaps open on the purse (or in other words where the

purse hinges will sit on the fabric...bear with me, it's gonna be fine!). Place the centre of the

frame on the centre crease of the pattern and pivot the frame so it is lined up with the(wide

angled) sides of your pattern and measure your desired seam allowance (mine is 1cm) plus a few

mm more from where the purse hinge ends.

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Obey the blue writing...

3. Cut your fabric pieces. From your pattern cut 2 pieces each of the Dottie oil cloth fabric,

lining fabric, and heavy sew-in.

4. Make the pink bow and glue it down. Cut a 14cm length of ribbon (we'll call this the 'cross-

piece'), and cut another length of ribbon depending on how long you like your bows. Place the

cross-piece ribbon on the table and take your other piece of ribbon and tie a pretty bow AROUND

the cross-piece ribbon. Apply some glue to the back of the bow (within the knot) to secure it

position. Apply glue to the back of the bow and the entire back of the cross-piece, and affix the

whole thing to one of the right sides of the dottie cloth as shown in the picture.

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I have placed my bow 14cm up from the bottom edge.

5 Sew exterior bag. One the wrong side of one of the Dottie pieces mark the hinge markings

(that you made in step 2). Bring the the Dottie pieces (right sides touching each other). Do not

pin. Starting from one of your hinge markings sew the sides and bottom of the exterior finishing

at the other hinge markings as shown by wonky blue arrow in the photo. NB: oil cloth gets scarred

(for life!) if you pin it. So only pin oil cloth in your seam allowance, or just hold the pieces with

your fingers as you sew.

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Sew exterior bag by following my wonky blue arrow

6. Create a flat bottom for your purse (you can skip this if you want to, but the shape of your

purse won't be nearly as nice, and it will be pancake flat). Take one of the corners of your exterior

bag and match the side seam with the bottom seam line. Flatten to form a triangle. Measure

1.5cm down from the tip of the triangle mark the line with chalk and hold with your fingers.

Stitch along the marked line and trim the excess fabric 1cm for the seam. Repeat for the other

bottom corner of the exterior. Turn exterior bag right side out.

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Flatten triangle and make your line 1.5cm down from the tip of triangle. (I couldn't find my ruler!)

Trim off excess fabric, and there you go; one flat bottom!

7. Sew lining. Create a sandwich with your lining fabric pieces (right sides touching each other)

in the middle and the heavy sew-in interlining on the outsides. Mark the flap opening/hinge bit on

the lining to match the mark you made on the exterior bag in step 2. Sew the lining bag in the

same way as step 5 EXCEPT YOU HAVE TO LEAVE AN 8CM OPENING IN THE BOTTOM

OF THE LINING.

8. With right side out slip the exterior bag into the lining bag. The right sides of the lining

bag and the exterior bag should now be touching each other.

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Slip exterior bag in the lining bag. Observant bag makers will notice that I haven't flattened the

bottom of the lining. That's becauseI couldn't be botheredthis purse is small enough for that

detail to not show.

9. Sew the two flaps of the purse. On one of the flaps, pin the lining to the exterior bag at the

top and sides. Begin sewing where the stitching starts on the lining, sew all around the sides and

top edge stopping at the stitching on the lining. Clip the curve. Repeat with other purse flap.

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Start (and stop) sewing the top and sides of the purse as shown by my wonky blue arrow. Notice

how I have only pinned in my seam allowance.

Clip those curves! Clipping curves reduces fabric bumps and lumps when we turn our work right

side out.

10. Pull the exterior bag through the hole in the lining. Yep, this is my favourite bit. Pop the

lining into the exterior bag and smooth everything down, by finger pressing (not ironing or you'll

melt the vinyl on the cloth!)

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This should be the result (after a bit of finger pressing). It looks like a polka-dot fish!

11. Sew gap in the lining closed. Stitch the gap in the lining shut by pushing the raw edges into

the hole and top stitching close to the edge for a neat finish.

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Sew gap in lining shut.

12 Now for the glue. Apply glue to the channel of one of the sides of the frame. Start at the

hinge and work your way to the other hinge. Do be generous with the glue or it will all end in

tears!

Apply glue to the sides and top edge of your purse, again be generous. If you are a bit clumsy or

you've had a few glasses of wine, you might want to mask the bit of the purse that will not be

inserted into the frame with some tape. It doesn't matter if glue oozes onto the frame but it is a

pain if it gets all over the fabric. Allow the glue to dry for 5 minutes.

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Be generous with the glue. This Glue BTW is the business, it's got more grip than a pot oflobsters!

13 Insert your purse into the frame. Start by inserting the sides of your purse into the frame

(hinge end first) then work your way up to the top corners. Use a sharpish object to poke and stuff

the fabric evenly right into the frame - small sewing scissors are perfect for this job (be very

careful to not scar the oil cloth where it will show.

After you have inserted the sides of the purse into the frame, start inserting the top edge of the

purse into the frame working reasonably quickly before the glue dries. Turn the purse over to

check that the lining side is also inserted evenly into the frame. Leave to dry for 15min before

tackling the other side of the frame and purse in the same way. Let everything dry for about 30

mins and then pick off any stray glue from the frame.

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Sides go into the frame first.

Poke the fabric right into the frame with tips of scissors - work your way around the frame evenly

(don't scar the oil-cloth where it will show). Flip your purse over and check that the lining side is

evenly 'poked' into the frame as well.

14. Make detachable wrist loop. Cut a 28cm length of ribbon and thread it through the ring of

the Swivel Bolt Snap and fold raw edges in and stitch shut. Stitch a line on the ribbon close to the

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ring of the snap to secure it's position. Hook the loop onto the ring of the purse frame. Then

admire your new purse and think to yourself'Like wow, I made that!!!'