Purse project

My newest purse was made from an old pair of pants of my husbands that later morphed into shorts.

 

I've had several people ask me to do a post on it, but sadly, I didn't take pictures as I made it. Taking pictures of each step of the things I make is still kind of new to me, and honestly, it's a pain in the butt. It's a simple project though, so I'll do my best to explain it using the finished purse. I sewed the project by hand, and it really didn't require a lot of sewing. First, take a look of the picture with the parts labeled from where they are from.

The piece I used for the main body of the purse actually has a pocket on the other side of the purse. These were carpenter pants, so there was a large pocket on each leg. I centred the existing pocket.

Next, I added another pocket. The pocket you can see in the picture was actually on the butt of the pants. I left a small trim around it. Then I stitched it only three sides, and I left the top open. This way, the pocket I added was now two pockets in one.

I then cut out a rectangle for the bottom of the purse from just an open part of the pants. I pinned it into place, and then I stitched it.

Next I did the strap from the waistband. I had cut the end of the of the waistband where there was already a button hole. I stitched it and the button into place in the middle of the purse.

It was a pretty quick project even with me doing it all by hand. It took me about an hour to do it. I also took the second back pocket, cut it out, and use it as a mini make-up bag without any other work to it.

I've been using it as my main purse for about three weeks now. It has lots of storage with one main section and three pockets. It's big enough for my mini make-up bag, my tablet, my cellphone clutch wallet, and even my headphones if I need to take them to work.

Let's talk about my boobs. . . again

Yep, it's about a bra reconstruction project again!

I have big boobs. There is no getting around that. They're huge. I'm a 36F. I also have back problems, that while not caused by my big boobies, it's certainly not helped by them either. I noticed a few months ago that wearing a convertible bra where the straps are crossed in the back dramatically cut down on my back pain. I also have issues with costochondritis, which is pain in the cartilage that connects a rib to the breastbone. It can honestly feel like a heart attack. Wearing my straps crossed helps to take some of the pressure off my ribs while balancing it more evenly for my back and shoulders. 

In other words, comfortable and supportive bras are not just a matter of fashion to me. . . they're a health concern.

Good bras, especially ones that have the function I need, are expensive, and I hate spending money on stuff to just cover my parts. Also, because of the weight of these things strapped to my chest, even expensive bras don't last long for me. My straps often wear out, so having the ability to just replace the straps is a big money saver.

All of these things led me to my first bra recon project that can be found here. It involved clipping the straps and stitching part of the bra, so that I could replace the ruined straps with new ones. Basically all of my bras have had this done to them now.

This way involves tossing the old straps though. Recently, I got several new bras on major sale, and it seemed like such a waste to throw away new straps that weren't damaged. I had to rethink how I was going to recon them because I hate throwing away useful things. The results were awesome.

So this is one of my new bras. It's purple, and it's adorable. The underwire is also thin enough to not press into my ribs even when it was like this. Once I reconed it, there is no pressure on my ribs at all. It was a steal at $2. 

First, I stitched the strap to make a loop in the front much like I did for my first project. Then I cut the strap under where I stitched. Next comes where this project differs.

 

Since I wouldn't be adding removable straps, I needed to add two of these little guys. You can likely buy them, but I clipped the ones I used from the clear straps that come with my strapless bras. I HATE clear straps. Each clear strap has two of these on them, so it worked out well. 

Next I just stitched the little metal clip thingy (I have no idea what to call these things) to the strap I just cut. Make sure the stitch is on the underside of the strap.

Then I just repeated what I did on the second strap.

 

And here it is all done. It's my new favorite bra, and it's more comfortable than the expensive bras I've tried. 

Broken Howl is moving along, and it will hopefully be in the hands of my editor soon. Click the picture to check out the FB event for the release! My editor on this one is the lovely Roz, who I interviewed back in March in this post. Her second book will be on its way soon, so be sure to check it out.

I blame my husband.

So someone forgot to finish her blog post today. Me. I forgot to finish my blog post for today, but I'm blaming my husband because he was home today. It's all his fault. But. . . you can have a selfie of me.

Aren't I cute?

I'm about to go out with the hubby. . . and his bike. See, I told you this is all his fault. Monday I'll be posting instructions on how I turned a ripped up pair of my hubby's shorts (There he is again!) into my new purse.

I think I'm in love

So one of the main reasons I had to push back the release date for Howl was because my desktop (AKA Skynet) died and ate part of my story. This weekend Sky got replaced.

He's huge. He's heavy. His name was almost Fat Ass.

And he's also the coolest computer I've ever owned. Just don't tell my laptop I said that.

He's been dual booted with Ubuntu and filled with all my must have writer software. And I've finnally decided on a name for him. . . other than Fat Ass.

I liked the idea of calling him HAL because he's red and HAL has to be one of the coolest computers in SF history.




As cool as HAL is, I just don't like the sound of his name, so I settled on Autopilot or Auto from the movie Wall-E. Basically, he's like a cartoon HAL for kids, which is just creepy as hell when you think about it.

Here's one of Auto's biggest scenes in the movie. If you've never seen Wall-E, you should likely not watch this. . . because spoilers. And why the hell have you not watched Wall-E!?!



Didn't see any HAL-ness? Try this fan video because it's epic.


See how awesomely creepy that is!

Since I'm naming and welcoming a new boy, I thought I'd introduce my other gadgets with their names.

First there is my laptop named Deep Thought or DT for short. His name is from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Then we have my tablet Hex. His name is from Discworld.

And last, but not least, is my cellphone Max. His name is from The Thirteenth Floor.

Okay, so I might have an attachment problem when it comes to my tech toys, but I'm a person with a problem and a really cool computer.