Tutorial and a give away! picture heavy!

hiyall,

today I am doing a tutorial and a giveaway! a couple of my readers had questions about how to construct the jean pocket bag. Took a couple of days to get it together I finally came up with a tutorial. to see larege details click on the pictures. Bare in mind I am not a professional blogger so my instructions maybe clear as mud. Any questions you can email me at Erzebatbat@aol.com , please put 'Q on jean pocket purse' so I wont delete ya (dingbatgrin)!

 get a pair of old jeans. I prefer using men's jeans. the material is thicker and wears evenly. I find that thrift stores are the bestest place to go because of the economical value and availability. this is a pair of Levis.


remove the back pockets, leave at least one inch of material all around the edge. next remove 2 of the belt loops, these will be the loops to run the cross body strap thru. remove the zipper. take your time with this step. you will find that the zipper in men's jeans are the perfect length along the top edge of the pocket. if you use ladies jeans, the zipper will be too short and you will need to buy a 7 inch jean zipper. last part, carefully remove the inseam welt. cut close to the edge, it will fray with use but that is ok, it adds character to the purse.



this is what you should have when you are done. 2 back pockets, 2 belt loops, one zipper and one inseam welt. save the rest of the jeans for later projects. oh yeah, cut out the watch pocket too! put it to the side, once you get 2 of them you can make cute little coin purse the same way you are making this pocket purse.

I highly recommend using a heavy duty sewing machine needle size 16 or 18.  these are larger bore needles with  a slightly larger eye. since you are going through thicker than normal fabric the needle will glide thru the fabric much easier. normal tension on the bobbin is fine, loosen the tension on the top dial just a tad. a zipper foot is real handy but not necessary.
trim the top of the pocket to 3/4 inch and flip the little red tab over to the pocket and pin down. I like having the little red tab as part of the overall purse design. insert the zipper like you would on any garment or bag. you can top stitch along the top of purse if you like but I don't. another option is to zigzag the edge of the zipper to the each of the pocket from the inside which I don't either (grin).

 time to attach the belt loops. these are the 'carriers' of the cross body straps. please pay attention to the position of the loops in the pictures. this helps reduce the thickness of the layers. using a 3/8 in seam allowance, stitch loops to one of the pockets.

open up the zipper 1/2 way and fold the pockets, right sides together, and match up the corners. start with the top of pockets on one side. then repeat to other top corner. work your way to the lower corner, pin in place, then pin in between top and bottom. about 3 pins. repeat on other side and the bottom point.

 stitch a 1/4 inch seam around the pocket. I used my zipper foot but you can use the edge of your reg foot and get the same result.

 time to trim the fat (sort to speak). take a clear ruler, lay it on top of the pocket at the seam you just stitched on the quarter inch mark. trim excess off all sides. leaving a 1/4 inch edge.

time to switch out feet. I now have put my reg foot back on the machine and zigzagged along the edge to give it s slightly polished edge.

 carefully turn pocket inside out, poking out corners and flatten out edges. you might want to loop a piece of ribbon thru the zipper tab. may make it easier to open and close the bag. hand tack both ends of the zipper. this will prevent the zipper from separating from heavy use.

take one end of the inseam welt and push through one of the loops. tie a knot in the end. this will prevent the cross body strap from slipping out. repeat for other side. tada!!!! you now have made a 3 pocket side pouch purse. its a handy dandy size for when you want to take just a few things with you. will hold a cell phone quite nicely regardless of size. zipper pocket for security. machine washable but I don't recommend it if you have embellished it heavily.

you can embellish your pocket purse any which way you want. my 'signature' embellishment (which anyone and everyone can use) is the fusing of scrap fabric leaves in a circle. I use heat bond heavy duty. follow the manufacturer's instructions. hand sew a large button in the center. I gave these as gifts and sold them. they are a hit!  later blog enters will show you what to do with the left over jeans.  if you go back thru the blog you will see where I used jean legs to make aprons and purses.

now for the giveaway!!!!! I am giving away this 3 pocket purse that I made for this tutorial! minus the embellishment. I want YOU to do that. there maybe some surprises in the pockets if'n ya be the winner!

gonna keep it simple. comment on this post and share with your friends. that's it. wont make ya jump thru hoops. I will pick a winner on April 15th (tax day, snicker-snort-snort) so you will have plenty of time to spread the word.

thanks for your patience with this rather long post!

Keep ON Stitch'n On!

(mauh) Liz