New Little Purse

Over spring break, I decided to take the younger 4 kids to Southern California to visit the amusement parks while the dh and oldest daughter went to tour colleges.

When we have gone to amusement parks in the past, my husband usually stays with the youngest kids and I go on the rides with the olders. He HATES rides. Since he doesn't ride the rides, I can leave my purse and "stuff" with him to watch. Well... since this time, he wasn't going to be around, I felt I needed a small purse to hold our money, cards, etc - just the bare necessities - a purse that I could wear at all times, even on rides needed to be pretty small.

I found a crochet stitch that I loved from Petunia Pill blog. I had been wanting to try this stitch for awhile, and on a whim made the decision to use it for this purse.

I started out with a chain of 41 stitches and continued to crochet a rectangle until I felt is was the right size.
I never did get it to block out totally straight on every side. It didn't really matter :o)

A close up of the stitch detail. I totally love the texture of this stitch.

After it was complete, I traced around the piece and made a pattern for a lining. I also traced around my credit cards and made a pattern for pockets to hold these things. I hate all my stuff getting all jumbled up in my purse and having to look for them.
I chose bright pink for the lining and orange and yellow for the pockets and just sewed everything together.

Then I sewed the lining in by hand and added a zipper.

The finished purse with a 5 stitch I-cord strap.

Here is the inside. It was the perfect size!! The little pockets held money and cards and the center held my phone. Not shown - that was added later - is a clip on the left side for my keys.

This is so perfect that I am still using it. The one thing it does not fit is my checkbook, but I almost never need that while I am out anyway.

Check out some more finished projects at Tami's :o)