Church Purse

My mother was the kind of mother who would make me plan my whole week's wardrobe on Sunday night after church. I had to iron everything and hang it up in the order that it was to be worn in my closet. This meant that in 1987 it only took me an hour and a half to get ready (80's big hair took a long time to style) instead of two hours. She's a hyper-organized, hyper-planned individual. I was the total opposite until my son came along when I was 35. Now, I am a slightly more organized than normal, somewhat more planned out than normal kinda gal. I'll probably never be as well organized and well-planned as Mama but at least I don't make fun of her anymore. Now I appreciate, revere, and long for that kind of organization.

In my new-found organizational maturity, I have developed an amazing and wondrous tool called The Church Purse. It's a special, magical bag just for church that lives on my hall table and holds my Bible, Sunday School stuff, Bible Study stuff, a granola bar in an eyeglass case, tissues, gum, cough drops, clean underwear (for my son, not me), a tiny plastic bag with two band-aids, a teeny tub of Vaseline, a safety pin, and a mini nail file. On Sunday mornings when I am rushing to get to church on time all I have to do is throw in my day planner, phone and wallet. After church it is usually crammed full of art-projects and crayon drawings from my child. So, it does need to be a good size but not huge. Also it needs to be pretty, loud, and full of attitude because that's what I bring to the table for church - a pretty loud attitude. (Off-topic, but I am a liberal in a conservative Southern Baptist Church.) (Also off-topic: eyeglass cases are great for holding stuff. I also use one as a first aid kit in my regular purse.)

I have been using a Vera Bradley bag that I got forever ago but every Sunday I would get annoyed because it was way too small for all that I needed to carry. I would wind up trying to wrestle my kid AND all of our stuff. My solution was to buy a lovely Penny Bennett Designs Bible Tote from etsy.com because they are just about exactly what I was looking for with the exception of interior pockets. But then my second cousin, once removed, challenged me to make my own.

About a month ago my sewing machine that I had been using since high school died and I upgraded to a Brother SE400 machine. Since my totally FINE UPS guy brought my new baby to the door not a day has gone by that I haven't worked on something with her. It's been a fantastic transition to a computerized machine. I had no clue what I was missing. Sewing on her is a dream compared to my old clunky Kenmore who never held her tension.

I started looking around for patterns or tutorials when I came across exactly what I was looking for at The Renegade Seamstress in her Renegade Tote Bag. Her tutorial is full of clear photos of each step. The pictures and instructions are very easy to follow if you trust the process. You must trust the process. Don't question, just do.

I did do a few things differently just because I made a few mistakes. I think my straps are a bit too wide and a teensy bit shorter than they should be because I was watching the latest season of Psych on Netflix while sewing instead of paying attention. I also didn't line my outside pocket like I should have since I was using iron-on fusible webbing. Probably I'll just stick a hemmed contrasting piece of lining in there and ironing it on so that I don't wind up with webbing coming out every time I pull something out of the pocket.

The other big thing I did differently was to add internal pockets. I did this by using two 14" sections of my main fabric and folding them to make them 7". Working each 14" piece separately (to make two pocket sections - one for each side of the bag), I sewed down one long side and made a tube. Next, I ironed on my fusible webbing, turned it right side out and ironed it again to make the webbing stick. Then, I stitched a line across the top to add some strength. Next I took my lining piece and folded it in half, ironing it to make a crease and finishing the pockets BEFORE I sewed the edges like in the tutorial. I measured 2" inches up from the fold and 3.5 inches from the top of the bag in order to know approximately where to place the pocket-tubes. After getting them straight (enough) I sewed them across the bottom to hold them in place. After that I sewed straight lines down each pocket to break them into approximately 6" sections with the majority of the extra room going into the middle pockets on each tube. Then I just followed the tutorial.

I am extremely happy with how this bag turned out but I do think I am going to add a piece of fabric covered cardboard the the bottom just for a little extra structure.

I am so very thankful for the tutorial and for all the help the Renegade Herself gave me when I got distracted and messed up.

Here are my final pictures. I've already got a request for one for a friend and I am going to use a yellow buttercup pattern to make a Church Purse for my Mama. I just can't gush enough about how much I love this bag and how much I appreciate the Renegade Seamstress for making it available online.

This fabric is form the new spring collection form Joann's. I am not being pompous. That's what the sign said. For real. I had no idea Joann's had "collections".

In the last photo you can see where I messed up. I am not exactly sure where I went wrong but my contrast fabric doesn't line up exactly correct. Also you can see where I had to add two extra lines of stitch to the straps where they are sewn on to the bag. I can't remember how I screwed this up but I wasn't following directions when I did it. Lastly, my thread is black because I started sewing before I realized that I was using the wrong color and I didn't want to pick it out. So, I am pretending that is a design element.