Thrift Shop Finds

I mentioned in my last post that I'm taking a class called "Designing Your Perfect Purse" from Quilt University, taught by Lily Kerns. http://www.quiltuniversity.com This past weekend I was in a local thrift shop so I decided to take a look at the purses and see if I could find any with some interesting hardware that wouldn't cost too much.  I found these 2 pictured here for $1.99 each. I would not be able to purchase the hardware for that! After I photographed them I took them all apart to see how they were stitched together and to determine what types of stabilizers were used in the construction. WOW! Lots of stitching and lots of different stabilizers too! No wonder some of the purses you see in Boutiques are so expensive!!  I salvaged all of the leather, the straps and the hardware. I really liked the tourquoise leather purse. It had some unique nickel hardware that I have not seen before and I was able to save some of the leather. I made a pattern out of the various pieces from the other one. The leather was in really good shape! The fabric was a silky brocade, very pretty but very soiled! So were the zippers! What I found fascinating about the brocade purse was an outside zippered pocket, with so many sections it could really be called an attached wallet! I kept it intact so the I can study it and learn the construction of it!. It even had a removable mirror! I kept that too! I noticed that the zippers had 2 pulls that met in the middle on the top of the bag. I've learned that these types of zippers are called "two-slider closed bottom" purse zippers and can be found at some fabric and craft stores in different colors and lengths. They can also be found online. I have a couple made by Coats & Clark ~ 22 inches long! I need some shorter ones! 

So far, what I have learned in my class is that there are as many sizes and styles of  purses as there are women (and men) that carry them! Me, I carry a rather small purse that holds everything I need in a given day! In the past I have found that the bigger the purse I carry, the more stuff I think I need in it and I end up with a backache!! I've learned that you can add an almost infinite number of pockets, zippers and inserts as you find you might need! So far, this has been an interesting journey, with more to come! My creative juices are flowing! Watch out! I'm fixin' to design another purse!!