Monday, July 18, 2011

Flexi-Frame Purse

Last week I cleaned my drawers. I'm not being saucy - I mean my sewing drawers. Get your mind out of the gutter. Sheesh! :) I have a set of those little plastic drawers that you can get pretty much anywhere that I keep next to my sewing table. It gives me easy access to EVerything (except my fabrics and trims which I keep upstairs) and is very easy to move out of the way (I used to spend so much time lugging boxes of my junk when I had to move things, so this is waaay easier). One of the great things about cleaning and organizing is when you find stuff you forgot about. It's like a mini-Christmas. OK, it wasn't so much like Christmas when I saw a bag of buttons I had forgotten about that had spilled all over...and definitely not so much like Christmas when I found the card of sew-on snaps I had bought and forgot about that had separated. It was harder than I thought matching them up and putting them back together. But I digress. You guys are supposed to stop me when I digress, because who knows what could happen? I had to look up at the title to see what my original point was, haha.

So leetle seester Rachel is having a birthday. I got her a gift, but I felt the urge to make something as well. She's not very picky about most things so it's hard to try and come up with something for her. But I came across this during my organizing adventure and figured I'd give it a go:


Isn't that terrible photo the most exciting thing you've ever seen? You're probably sitting there thinking "What in holy hell IS that?" Well, I'll tell you. It's one of those little flexi-frame thingees that you use to make a coin purse that you squeeze to open. Told ya it was exciting! You guys never believe me... I don't remember buying these at all, which made it a nicer surprise. I've never used them before, and since I had limited time with which to figure it out I headed straight to my old stand-by to see if there was a tutorial, and by golly there was! I pulled out some deliciously girly and candy-colored fabrics and whipped up this little pretty:


That's some Amy Butler Midwest Modern you see there. I don't sew with her fabrics a lot - they're pretty, but not my style. This particular one, though, I  love. Anyway, true to tutorial, I slapped a yo-yo on there because it did need a little something extra:


That yellow and white stripe came from Joann's, and was used as the piping in this bag. I also used it for the lining:


See? A little squeeze and it opens it's big ol' mouth. I made it a little longer than the instructions directed as it seemed a little short, and I narrowed it down to fit my flexi-frame. I think I'll be getting the larger size if I reorder these - it'll be just a little easier to get into. If you can get your mitts on some of these I definitely recommend giving it a go - easy and fun, and pretty satisfying when you're done. I'm hoping my sister likes it. No, I'm not - I want to keep it for myself.

Hope your Monday is better than you expected!

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14 comments:

  1. It looks lovely:) I'm sure that she'll love it!! That little yo you is just so cute!! And that print is so gorgeous!! I agree with you, it's not my style either, I like most of the prints but I find them too bold or something!!! Now I'm convinced!! You are a SUPER sewer!!! You can sew anything!!!
    Hope you have a great day:)
    xo
    Eleni
    p.s. My Monday was awful, and depressing, first day to work after 3 weeks vacation... what should I expect?

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  2. I do find Amy Butler fabric hard to match unless you buy a matching colour from the same line. I too must confess I have this flexi thing in one of my drawers. It's still waiting to be found.

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  3. Oh you funny, funny rambler. You always make me giggle.

    And that is really pretty! Goes well with the background of your blog ;-)

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  4. Now I'm starting to see these flexi-frames all around the blogoshpere. Where can I buy them?

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  5. This looks like so much fun. I definately want to try this. Where can I buy?

    megan
    craftycpa.blogspot.com

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  6. Have you seen them made with metal tape measure pieces? I would love to try this method! Love that Amy Butler fabric!!

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  7. saw you on link party, now google following you. What a great project, thanks for sharing and yes that fabric is great! Karima x www.karimascrafts.com

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  8. What a pretty little purse!! I used to have one of those flexi-frame coin purses as a little girl -- brings back memories! Yours is MUCH prettier than anything I ever had!

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  9. OH-MY-GOD! WOW! Yes, that photo combined with the yellow retro blog background nearly made my heart stop with excitement! :-D

    It's a really cute little purse and I like the eye-popping fabric. I'm sure your sister will be really happy with that. xo

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  10. Ok that's the first time I've seen a flexi frame thingy! They look pretty neat! And your coin purse is too cute! Great, fun post!



    Thanks for linking to the Creating Success Worldwide blog hop!! Hope you'll come back again next week!
    Jill @ Creating my way to Success
    http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

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  11. Nice and practical. I like it! The colors are nice too.

    BTW I'm hosting a FAT Quarter giveaway so swing by when you get a chance :) - http://www.jaqsstudio.com/2011/07/fabric-love-19-fats-and-fabric-giveaway.html

    -Q

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  12. Awesome! Looks beautiful
    Emily
    domesticdeadline.blogspot.com

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  13. Bethany, this is so pretty. we love it so much we are featuring it tomorrow on the blog. Do grab the featured button if you fancy so. votation starts tomorrow. have a lovely weekend!

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  14. Love it! I saw a similar pattern for bags of all sizes at a quilt shop except instead of the flexi frame they used two pieces of a measuring tape that they had cut to fit! Might help for those who can't find them, or have an extra measuring tape laying around!

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