There and Back Again Book Purse, part 2: lining and final assembly

We left off last week with the finished purse handles and cover ready for assembly.  This week we'll be concentrating on the lining and putting the entire thing together.  Check out part 1 to see how I made the handles and designed the cover. I'm using the directions from Juliacy's Book Purse DIY video for most of the instructions here.  

Supplies:

approx .5 yards of fabric

poster board or light cardboard

ribbon

Duct tape

ribbon

needle and thread/sewing machine

Hot glue and glue sticks

Book purse handles

Painted book cover

Magnetic closure, filched from an old purse

Ruler 

Most of these materials I already had around.  Overall, I've spent less than 10.00 (US) on them.  

Pattern making

Now it's time to set the opening.  It needs to be wide enough to get a hand in there, but not so wide that stuff falls out of it when you are fishing for your keys.  I found about 6 inches (15 cm) should do the trick.  

I placed my book on my poster board and traced the shape of my book.  This wasn't as accurate as I
'd have liked.  In the future, I'll take the time to measure out and mark it out.  If the cardboard is thicker, score with the craft knife to make folding easier.  The cut mark will be on the outside.  

Make 2 trapezoid shapes and fold them in half.  Trim up so that they're symmetrical and set aside. 

Measure and cut a long rectangle to fit inside the spine.  

Corset Inspired belt

"I swear, I'm sotally tober, Ocisfer."

I've always wanted to make my own clothes. I have Project Runway fantasies and a reality that looks like a PSA against drinking and sewing. Just ONCE I'd like to be able to cut a straight line. Maybe it's because I use scissors right-handed and I'm a leftie. Maybe it's the astigmatism. Maybe it's none of this and people who can cut straight lines are robots.

I took an apparel class in high school and did a dress as a class project. I hated mine by the end of the only day I wore it. I made one skirt on my own and it was equally terrible.  Both pieces ended up in the back of my closet to fester and die. I wish my instructor would have taken the time to have us all get the proper size based on our measurements. Instead, we went with the clothing size we thought (or wished) we were and I don't think anyone in the class came up with an attractive dress. If you've never sewn from a pattern, your off-the-rack size and pattern size aren't the same, as if vanity sizing wasn't confusing enough. I wear a 16-22 depending on the clothing manufacturer and I'm around a 24W in sewing pattern sizes. It's a blow to the ego at first, but fit is more important than a number on a tag.

Ben bought me a Brother sewing machine for Christmas in 2013 after he'd asked for some alteration to his clothes and I'd give him the same response: "Sure, if I had a sewing machine."  Ben took this to heart and got this amazing gift for me and I was so excited! I could finally do the tailoring to my clothes that I always wanted but could never seem to part with the money. Now for the fun part: learning how to use the dag-blasted machine which I have just named Mano. Why Mano? Because it's Spanish for "hand" and slang for "brother" and I'm a dorky Texan.