From dress to purse

Hello, my name is Sarah, and I have an addiction to buying random things at thrift stores. (“Hello, Sarah”) I have at least 5 items in my thrift store “cut up and repurpose” pile and I just bought a dress for $2 the other day for a new summer purse. Whoops.

This purse began life as a beautiful gray 100% wool dress about 8 sizes too big for me. And no, I’m not exaggerating. But I couldn't leave so much nice fabric for such a good price. Usually, I don't favor gray, but this fabric called to me and told me that it wanted to be a purse. And who am I to deny? :-)

The pattern is McCalls 6977, view A. It came together well with no problems that I recall. The bow on the front took quite a lot of the fabric, more than I expected. But with some clever placing of the pattern pieces, I made it all fit. All the layers of wool and interfacing in the bow is so heavy however, that the purse is very front-heavy and it likes to flop forward. But that's a minor issue.

The lining is a light lavender floral quilting fabric from Joann Fabrics. It took me a while to decide on a lining, but I'm happy with it. I am a huge fan of fun and fancy printed linings. Why use black when you can use pretty purple flowers?

I like the magnetic snaps on the side. It’s more like a tote, but when you close the sides, the opening top is smaller and you are less likely to lose stuff. It’s a nice shape. Maybe a hair too big, but it’s not too heavy. And gray is very versatile for many different occasions and different outfits.

Thanks for reading!

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