jezzicasprojects

My first attempt at making a purse from a beer 6-pack box came out pretty good – but I am never content with pretty good! I gifted the first purse to my friend who had challenged me to come up with an up-cycled beer project and she seemed very pleased with her gift. I’ve had a few requests from friends who would like a purse of their own so it seemed like a good idea to improve the process.  As someone who enjoys beer I have some interesting 6-pack boxes to choose from!  There are so many interesting beer names and some really beautiful designs I decided on Founders “Dirty Bastard” for this purse.

I wanted to line this purse so these are the directions for the lining:

Make a pattern by tracing the 5 pieces of the beer box adding 1/2 inch seam allowance to all sides. Make a pocket by tracing your cell phone and add an inch all the way around.

Assemble the lining. Sew a narrow hem (1/4 inch) around all 4 sides of the pocket. Right sides together sew the 4 sides to the bottom. Right sides together sew the 4 corner seams. Fold the top edge down 1/2 inch and sew hem. Position the pocket wherever you would like it and stitch the sides and bottom down.

This is the link to my first post: Beer Purse Directions

Remember to sew the handles first! I forgot and had to use some creative sewing techniques to get the handles attached.

After you attach the 2 sides to the bottom sew the lining to the to the top edges of the sides (the ends will be sewn later.)

I changed the assembly order this time in order to minimize the difficulty I had sewing the corner seams – it was slightly better, but only slightly and I did end up hand sewing the bottom end seam. If you come up with a better order please let me know! This time I sewed the 4 corner seams before I attached the ends to the bottom of the purse. But then I couldn’t wedge the purse under the presser foot to sew the bottom so I hand stitched the last seam using a blanket stitch.  Don’t forget to stitch the top edge of the lining to the ends, I sewed these on my sewing machine and got as close to the corners as I could, there was a small gap but I will have to live with it!

This purse came out pretty good – but I’m sure I will try to improve on it!