Mondrian Inspired Purse Design

The Modrian Inspired Design

Everything is glued, nothing yet stitched.

For a couple of months now I've been working on the FFF challenge 61, interpreting an artist's style.  I decided to go large.  Although I still want to finish it, I had so much fun making the first bag, I decided to try another one.  The bonus is that it is small enough to actually finish in a few days.  The first problem I encountered was the grosgrain moving all over the place even though it was glued.  I decided that was because the wool still has a lot of stretch and my even feed foot was not really feeding so evenly.

I used recycled wool jackets, skirts, and odd bits of wool that I felted in my washing machine and dryer.  It is really soft to the touch.  Felting seems to take out all the rough stuff.  I added grosgrain ribbon to cover the seams; wider grosgrain as the final edging. All was stitched down with zig-zag using polyester thread because I both wanted to cover up the grosgrain and add a sheen.  I first tried to use another stitch on my machine, but after many, many birds nest on the back side, I decided the zig-zag would have to do.  The lining is black satin: pocket on one side for my cell phone; pocket on the other for my charge card case.

Purse Full View

I had a lot of problems deciding how to do the strap.  My first, planned idea didn't work at all.  I tried 3 more before I did this one.  Not as elegant a joint as I would have liked, but it works rather well.  The handle attachment added a day and a half to the project.  Luckily, I have an ergonomic seam ripper. 

Purse, Flap Side

Finished, closed the body of the purse is ~ 7" x 9".  Under the flap, this side is gathered on both sides and bottom.  This allows the contents to settle easily and not disturb the ornamental design. 

Purse, Design Side

Not sure which is the real front or real back.  My preference at the moment is to put this side out. 

Silk on Velvet Purse

The Art Piece

As I started this design, I had in mind that it eventually would become a purse.  I was given a gorgeous piece of burgundy velvet [my friend Alex bought it at an estate sale for 50cents], I had some tiny cones of silk yarn, some iridescent seed beads and an idea.  I had never done any couching before, but this silk begged to be put with this velvet.  The FFF challenge was " chiaroscuro".

I first put a piece of velvet and stabilized in a hoop.  I could not get that under the foot of my machine.  Then I stay stitched the velvet to the stabilizer.  That seem to keep the velvet in place.  Velvet seems to have a life of its own as it slides and frays all over the place.  As I began to couch the silk yarn to the velvet I loved the look.  It is lush!  I had absolutely no idea I was stitching the shape of an onion cut pole-to-pole; I just liked the shape.  It wasn't until I took a break for a dinner of my Oven Roasted Onion Soup,  http://designerann.blogspot.com/2009/05/oven-roasted-onionsoup.html , that I realized after peeling and cutting over 4 pounds of onions, that shape was definitely in my mind.

After dinner I added the seed beads to bring out the dimensions of the velvet-polyester batting-satin layers.  The beads are dark, but just the right touch to fulfill the challenge.  Today I finished making this work of art into an Arty Purse.  I plan to use it New Years Eve at a wedding rehearsal dinner.

The Arty Purse Hanging on My Design Board

The Arty Purse Sitting on a Table