Tutorial - Cell Phone Mini Purse

A quick tutorial on how to make the cell phone/mini purse.  They would make a great gift for any young girl on your gift list or you could change it up and use cording or a shoestring to make an over-the-shoulder gift for the more mature girls you know!


Step 1.... start with two contrasting fabrics measuring 6 x 14

Step 2.... Cut a 5.5 x 13.5 piece of fusible interfacing (medium weight) and center on the back of one of the fabrics.  Follow product directions for fusing. 




Step 3....  Layer fabrics, right sides facing.  Cut a 5inch piece of ribbon, fold in half and pin so that the loop is inside your purse sandwich approximately 3.5 inches from the top ...  at this point you could substitute a shoestring or cording keeping the string inside and pin the ends facing out on each side of the purse sandwich.


Step 4.... Now it's time to stitch on your velcro dots.    I folded the lining fabric up to form the purse and placed and stitched the dots on. I later discovered that the dot on the left should have been  positioned on the printed fabric to properly close the purse...... Fold up the printed fabric right side out to determine where the closure dot should be placed.

Step 5.... Stitch the layers together leaving an opening to turn the purse.  I also did some extra backstitching where the ribbon is for extra security.

Step 6..... Turn the purse.  Fold up the bottom to just above whee the ribbon sticks out.  Starting on one side at the bottom of the purse...sew all the way around the edge to the opposite bottom.  This will close up the opening you used for turning and finish your purse.  I did some extra backstitching for added strength when I reached the part near the ribbon and purse opening and also at the bottom of the purse.

I added little clasps so it can be hooked onto a belt loop or larger purse handle.


Hope this is clearer than mud for you and you can make your own.  Any questions, let me know!


hm

Beaded Bracelet Tutorial

I was asked to do a tutorial on how to make the beaded bracelet from my last post. I will give this a try, but I warn you, I am not a crocheter. Of the ten or so ladies that were taking this class, one gal had the proper spiral look and seemed to really know what she was doing.  Two of us finished our bracelets in our own creative style...unpatterned and bumpy... but complete.  To the best of my memory below are the directions she gave us to make this.  I made a second bracelet and took pictures as I went along, but my camera doesn't want to focus clearly on close shots and I can't hold everything and take pictures so I'm not sure if these directions will be helpful to you or not.  Hopefully you can crochet and make some sense of this and  make your own bracelet. 

First, what you need:

#10 Crochet thread
Size 3 2.1mm crochet hook
3pkgs of glass beads...
.....she told us you always buy 3 pkgs so that you have enough for matching bracelet and at least a necklace
a beading needle
2-3 clasps


1.  For the bracelet we had to string 40-50 inches of beads.. She said we probably wouldn't use all of them, but it is better to string extra as it is difficult to add more later on.

2.  Remove the beading needle and leaving a long tail (about 20 inches) chain 4  then join into a circle.

3.  Stick the hook into the first chain.  Slide two beads up close.    Hook the string and pull a loop through the chain and the loop on the hook pushing the beads to the back keeping as snug as possible.  Repeat four times until you have eight beads on your circle

4.  For the second and all successive rows you will be repeating the same motions... sticking the hook in next to each set of two beads sliding two new beads up close and pulling the loop through, always pushing the beads to the back... until you have the length bracelet you need (mine was 7.5 inches)

If you can figure out how to do this correctly, you should have a little "spiderweb" of string in the center with the beads joining nicely and smoothly on the outside.

Honestly, I have no idea where I was supposed to be sticking the hook most of the time... and I never did see the spiderweb on mine that she formed on hers.  I just stuck the hook between two beads, added two more and pulled the loop through.  In theory, as you add each row you are pulling the previous row of beads tightly into a nice patterned string of beads.  Sometimes mine looked smooth and like I might be doing it right and then it suddenly got "blobby" looking and I had no what I was doing differently.  I would just reach down between two that looked looser to add two beads and pull tight as I could.  In the end, it worked for me and I ended up with my own unique bracelet.

5.  When you have a length bracelet you want (be sure to allow for the added length from the clasp and not make it too long).  Cut yourself about 20 inches of string and thread it through the needle.  Weave the string though the beads pulling the end closed and tight.  Sew on the clasp and weave thread back down through the beads pulling any beads that stick out oddly into the bracelet.  Cut off excess string.  Repeat at the other end using the long tail you started with.