A little floral bag

Every year when it starts getting warm, I like to get a new purse.  It seems like a silly thing, buying a new bag every summer, but it's a nice tradition.  My summer bags are light and floral, made from fabric instead of leather.  They're a little bigger, so I can put extra summertime books in them.  But there's one problem: they only last one season.  The fabric is thin, so by September or October, little holes and tears start showing up in the pockets.  The strap comes loose, or a buckle breaks.  It happens year after year: those cute, floral summer bags at Target and Walmart are just too cheaply made to last past fall.  It's a sad fact, but one I've come to accept.

Today, my husband and I were at Target and I passed by the purse section, hoping to sneak a peak at my summer bag options.  But even though the swimsuits and tank tops have been out since March, the purse section hasn't arrived at summer yet.  Disappointed, I told my husband about my summer purse problem.  He seemed to think it was silly that I bought a new purse every summer.  Where was the one I bought last summer?  Why did I buy a new one every year?  Why didn't I just make one?

I scoffed at the suggestion at first.  Make one?  Usually making something meant that I had to buy fabric, and fabric was expensive.  Making a purse would cost more than buying one, and it wouldn't last any longer.  What purses I had made were short-lived.  Besides, I hadn't pulled out my sewing machine since December.  I didn't want to sew now.

But as we got closer to home, I started thinking about that purse I would make.  How many pockets it would have, what color fabric I could use from my stash.  And suddenly, I knew I'd rather make this year's summer purse than buy it.

The tan is a linen that I originally bought to make bread sacks.  It's been in my stash since January, completely forgotten.  The black and white floral is from a friend's dress that I'm making (and need to finish). All in all, it was a cheap little bag, much cheaper than the purses at Target would have been.  

I forgot how much I love sewing purses.  I made a few in college, but none in the past few years.  Purses are easier than dresses and skirts, and much faster.  I can draw what I want my purse to look like, and in a few hours it sits before me, complete and pretty close to what I'd dreamed.  There is something wonderful about imagining, designing, creating, and finishing a project in one sitting.  It makes me feel accomplished, without having to be patient.  

Sometimes it's nice not having to be patient.  :)