Burlap Purse

Every now and then Jared "allows" me to go shopping by myself while he plays video games watches the baby.  The reason I say he "allows" me is because when I go shopping, I always hit up Goodwill.  And he refuses to shop at Goodwill.  (I still cannot grasp why he hates thrift stores so much - to me they are giant treasure chests... but I suppose to a germaphobe like him, thrift stores seem like giant dirty dishrags.  Or something...?).

Yesterday during my solitary excursion I came across this little beauty!

I used to be a purse hoarder, but last year before we moved I purged.  I donated 15+ purses, leaving me with only three of my favorites.  "No big deal," I thought, "I'll just use the diaper bag as a purse once baby arrives."  Well, yes.  I mostly use the diaper bag as a purse.  But what about when I take off on my independent shopping trips without the babe??  That thing is too darn heavy to lug around Goodwill if there's nobody with me who needs diapers... The three purses I kept are suitcase-huge, so when I need a quick wallet-phone-keys transporter, they seem like overkill.  My mission was to find something that I could give a makeover and create to be one-of-a-kind.

So my purse journey began...

This bag is an obvious freebie from The Cove resort (where I have never been), so the first thing I decided was that the logo had to go.  It was also far big for my needs, so I needed to cut it to my desired size.  I love the handles

and this sneaky little inner pocket

so I kept those aspects when I did my trimming:

Now to cover up the logo... I had a small scrap of heavier cotton fabric that I used for a pillow a while back that I thought would suit this purse perfectly.  The burlap is what I initially loved so much about the bag, so I didn't want to cover too much of it.

I snipped a piece big enough for a pocket (and allowed for hemming).  The top edge of the pocket will need to be sturdy enough for phones/keys/sunglasses sliding in and out repeatedly, so I double hemmed the top edge.

The next step was sewing all the pieces back together.  I made a point to reinforce the corners and the top edges of the seams, since purses tend to suffer more wear and tear than clothing.

And finally.... a snap to keep my belongings safe and secure!

Here's the final product!

I'm super pleased with how this project turned out (Jared can quote me saying something like, "I'm soooo proud of myself!")  I love nothing more than to use something that is not only recycled, but UNIQUE!  I asked my model to pose with my new purse, and she happily obliged (even though she had to change out of her pajamas to do so...).