Friday, July 27, 2012

Purse Frame Project

My friend E had a purse frame she wanted to make into the top of a case for her sunglasses.  I'd never worked with a purse frame, but I had seen them in craft stores and I was intrigued.  I had to try working with one myself!  So, inspired by E's project, I've made a sunglasses case.


I think that the ball-topped purse frames are adorably old-fashioned.  I wanted to use a sweet stitch that would add to the nostalgia for this project, so I've used a shell stitch.  (also, I'm on a shell stitch kick...)
This pattern would make a terrible coin purse.  The stitch is too loose and the coins would stretch it out horribly.  If you want to make a purse that would hold your crochet hooks or scissors, you need to line it.  Lining this bag would be super simple, since it's essentially a big rectangle.  I found it unnecessary, since I'm just going to use it for my sunglasses which I wrap with a microfiber cloth anyway.  If you've got sunglasses with small, pokey ear pieces I think I'd go ahead and line it.

I need to get on my soap box for a mome, if you'll bear with me, and snark at the Everything Mary company that sells the purse components at craft stores.  There is so little information on the packaging that I've had to measure the frame myself, all the package says is "silver purse frame." Lame.  Also, the website sucks.  There is a pitifully small amount of information on how to use their products (none in the packaging, btw) so I had to search for information from the crafty-blogger world.  Thank God for crafty bloggers.  Amen.  Okay, back to the post...

Old-Fashioned Spectacle Case (aka: The Purse-Frame Sunglasses Case)
Supplies:
Approx. 55 yards of worsted weight yarn (I used Stitch Nation by Debbie Stoller's Full O' Sheep in Aquamarine and Thyme)
Size G hook
3 1/2" Purse Frame (I used an Everything Mary purse frame I picked up at Joann's)
Embroidery thread to match yarn
Yarn needle, tapestry needle

ch 14
R1: sc in back loop of 2nd ch from hook, sc in the back loop of each ch across (13 st)
R2: ch 1, sc in first st, (skip 2 st, 5 dc in next st, skip 2 st, sc in next st) 2 times (13 st)
R3: ch 3 (counts as first dc), 2 dc in first st, skip 2 st, sc in next st, skip 2 st, 5 dc in next st, skip 2 st, sc in next st, skip 2 st, 3 dc in last st (13 st)
R4-28: repeat rows 2-3, ending on a row 2 row (13 st)
R29: ch 1, sc in each st across (13 st)
Fasten off.  Weave in ends.

** If you would like a color blocked case, do R1-11 in main color, R12-18 in contrast color, and R19-29 in main color.


There is more than one way to sew your case into the frame, but this is the method that I used:
I fit one of the short ends of my finished strip into the purse frame.  I loaded my tapestry needle with embroidery floss and pulled it through the 2nd hole of the frame.

I then sewed in through the first hole, and came back out through the 3rd hole...

Then I sewed in to the 2nd hole, in a backstitch-type sewing pattern.  I followed this pattern all the way to the end of the purse frame.

This is what it looked like when I finished.  I wove the floss ends in, and then stitched in the other side the same way.

After both ends were sewn into the purse frame, I whipstitched the sides of my case together, using yarn and the yarn needle.  I matched the yarn colors when the colors changed on the bag.

I designed this case for my (currently misplaced) smaller sunglasses.  The sunglasses in the picture are a HUGE pair... I'm not so crazy about how they fit in the case...

The purse frame edges poking out like that really, really bothered me.  I wasn't sure if my normal, smaller glasses would cause the same sharp pokey edges, but since it bothered me so much, I thought I would just tack them to the sides of the bag.

I just put a couple of stitches with the yarn through the hinges of the frame and attached them to the bag.  I am much happier with how this looks!

I hope this was helpful!  It was super quick to make, and it was fun to try something new.  Have a Happy Friday Dynamos!

xoxo

update 8.7.12:  Mucho mucho thanks to E for pattern testing and finding 2(!) mistakes on R3.  The pattern is correct now... xo

22 comments:

  1. I really like this and recently saw a granny square coin purse made similarly only they glued the granny square to the frame, it looked really awesome.

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  2. I wonder what kind of glue they used..... Anyway, thanks for posting this. You've inspired me to play with some closure frames. :-D

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    1. To answer your question about the glue, her blog says just to use a glue suitable for fabric and metal, and I decided to search and found you the link to the free pattern if it's alright with Jaime for me to put the link here.
      http://nicollie.wordpress.com/2012/01/04/tutorial-granny-square-portemonneetje-maken/
      Hugs Jaime |----(Hugs)----|

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    2. Cool! Thanks for linking it, Piper! No worries!
      xo Jaime

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  3. Thanks so much for the glue infor, Piper!!!

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  4. OK, Jaime, you're starting to totally freak me out. 1.) just yesterday I went on my own shell kick and 2.) was planning to make a teeny purse out of an old purse frame I have. Get out of my mind, you demon from heck!!!! (The Zinger thing was also creepy...)

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    1. Ahahaha! I think it's more of a great-minds-think-alike thing!
      xo Jaime

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  5. Maybe all Zinger-fueled minds think alike.....

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  6. Thank you Jaime.
    You're very welcome Sue.
    And LOL Karen @ Zinger-fueled minds thinking alike, just LOL!
    Speaking of kicks, I myself get on some obbsessive kicks like that as well. LOL

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  7. yay, Yay, YAY! Can't WAIT to try this out! (actually, I'll have to wait, got too many things on the burners of my brain & hooks.... but, I WILL be trying this out soon) Thanks so much for doing this -- I LOVE the shell stitch.... I may do mine in lots of colors to match my crazy-lady purse I'm working on. :) so excited!!

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    1. Cool! I wasn't sure you were going to dig it, so Yippee!!! And I totally want to see the crazy-lady purse! I love anything that starts with crazy! Unless it ends with fourteen cats...
      xo

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    2. omg, I actually laughed out loud when I read "unless it ends with fourteen cats..." ! :P
      Yes, I call it crazy-lady b/c it's girly ruffles AND multi-stripped -- probably TOO MUCH for most people to handle!.... but I am on a girly-girly kick these days, and I have no sense of shame (or fashion). BAhahaha! (I feel like the evil-scientist-laboratory-guy.... somehow translated into crocheting girl-stuff..... does that translate?). You can see a sneak peak on my ravelry page of the wip... but I will also be bringing it Sunday. Can't wait! :)

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    3. I think that the grunge era stole the girly-girly we were rightfully entitled to back then, so we have to get it back now! I'm going to check it out right now on Ravelry!
      xo Jaime

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    4. 14 cats!!! LOL LOL LOL!!!! Woman, you should be doing stand-up: the Crochet Comedian!! Are you related to EK, because you two certainly have the same sense of humor.

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    5. EK is my best friend from high school, and her brother introduced me to Jake, although not with the intention that I marry him, LOL!!! (He was 17 at the time and I was 20...)
      I'm saving up all my best comedy material for my book and/or reality tv show, because I'm even funnier with Jake... (You should totally friend him on Fb too. He's waaay funnier than I am. He's Jake Marley.)

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    6. Karen, what a compliment, to ask if we're related! we ARE related, in that evil-twin kind of way (wait, I mean, not that one of us is the good twin, and the other is the evil twin, I mean we're BOTH the evil one!).... ;) or, to better put it, we're related in that we-survived-the-stupidest-part-of-life-together-and-that-forms-a-mind-meld-bond-that-seems-to-transcend-time-and-distance-and-we-couln't-shake-off-even-if-we-wanted-to kind of way.... and I don't want to shake it off.... :P

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    7. ♥evil twins forever♥ LOL!

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  8. Yes! Evil twins forever! (I kind of like that as a catchphrase -- so much better than "BFF" -- ETF!) hahahaha!

    (also... testing to see if I updated the naming thingy correctly -- from EK to Eliz)

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    1. I agree! ♥ETF♥ So happy to see you Eliz!!! Your name thingy worked!
      xo

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  9. This Purse is sooo cool!! Too bad I can't try it out until my mom gets a purse frame. :)

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    1. Hi Rilla! Thanks for checking it out! Maybe there's another project on here that you can do while you're waiting... ;D
      xo Jaime

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  10. I think you're the lady to go to and ask you to make a pattern for a hard shell sunglass or eyeglass case. That folds over. Perhaps with cardboard or foam core board sandwiched between crochet layers. Just a hint, I would love to make one but I cannot create my own patterns. Have a beautiful day

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