One of the girls, in particular, is a bit of a bower bird. She loves to just keep anything really…rocks, leaves, marbles, bits of craft materials…anything that seems to appear special to her on the day. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. She collects things, and then she likes to have little places to put them.
So, here’s a cute little bug purse that can store pretty little bits and pieces. It can easily be made in under an hour. Very simple and perfect for the beginner sewer. Made from felt, it could be used to keep all their little treasures in, or it could be used as a coin purse.
It’s also possible to play around with the basic design and turn it into any bug you like. You can see from the photos that we also made a Bee purse using the same pattern. Just add stripes rather than the wings. Easy. It’s always best to use quality wool felt or wool felt blend for best results. As this purse will get plenty of use you will need something a little sturdier.
MATERIALS
1 rectangle piece of black felt
1 rectangle piece of red felt
1 small piece of felt for face
1 small piece of pink felt for cheeks
20 cm lightweight, iron on interfacing
vliesofix
10 cm “hook and loop” sew on velcro tape
pink embroidery thread for mouth
needle, scissors, pins
HOW TO MAKE
Here is a photo tutorial for making the Ladybug purse.
Finished purse size measures 12cm x 10cm.
Seam allowance is 1/4”
1. Trace and cut out pattern pieces. Attach vliesofix to back of spots, eyes, cheeks, face, wings and 2 x antennae pieces. Attach interfacing to Body- back, body-front and head piece (optional).
2. To make front of body- Remove paper vliesofix backing from spots and position them onto front of wing piece. Attach with a hot iron. Remove paper backing from wing piece. Sew around edges (optional) of spots.
3. Attach “hook” side of velcro onto front of wing piece where indicated. Place wings onto body-front piece. Ensure edges are matching. Iron wings onto front body piece. Straight stitch along top straight edge of purse. Place to one side.
4. To make head- Sew “loop” side of velcro into position on back of head piece (the side with the interfacing).Remove paper vliesofix backing from eye and cheek pieces. Iron into place on front of face. Remove paper backing from back of face piece. Backstitch mouth. Place face piece on front of head piece. Iron into place. Straight stitch around edge of face (optional). Put to one side.
5. To make antennaes- Match 2 antenna pieces together. Iron. Straight stitch around edge (optional). Repeat with other 2 antenna pieces. You should now have 2 antennaes.
6. Assembly- Take body-back piece, right side facing up. Position antennae into places where marked at top of body. Ensure antennae face inwards, pointing towards the base of the purse. Place head piece on top of antennae, wrong side facing up, along the top edge of the body piece. Pin, Straight stitch along top of purse. Flip head piece over so face is now facing outwards.
7. Pin front of body, right side up, on top of back piece. Match base edges together. Straight stitch around curved edge- starting at one side of front body and stitching around to the opposite side.
You don’t have to make them out of felt either. Here, we made one out of the latest pretty fabric from Tilda. It looks completely different, but still cute nonetheless.
No comments