Somewhere to put my crap!

- What do you got in that purse of yours? Rocks?

- Oh no, bricks. I've been paving my garden...

Roger and Anita - 101 Dalmatians (1996)

My purse was dying. Look at that poor thing...

Those handles were a few more tugs away from unraveling into oblivion! This just wouldn't do. Buying a new purse wouldn't do either. You can only replace a handmade purse with another handmade purse. It's a rule... that I just made up.

I decided to improve on this purse with my next one. I wanted something a little smaller so it doesn't get so full of stuff. Also pockets! I can never find my phone or a pen in my purse. Something had to be done about that.

I just winged the pattern for the knitting portion. The base is just standard garter stitch. I worked it until it looked right and then picked up stitches all around it on my circulars and just worked my way up.

The handles just involved binding off stitches and then on the next row casting on more and knitting until they were big enough.

EASY PEASY !

But then I had to line it... Ugh.

I am a terrible seamstress. TERRIBLE. I can do it but it's messy and rushed and I get so frustrated and sweaty. Obviously it's worth it in the end, but still. UGH!

I used the ever amazing Futuregirl tutorial for a bag liner. It says for a crocheted bag (she made it for her Starling Bag) but it works great in my knit one too. As you can see this bag is pretty much a knit Starling. I figured that was fine since the bag I was replacing was my original Starling bag I made almost 4 years ago. That bad boy has been through a lot.

Anyways... the lining. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, honestly.

This portion will hold my phone and ipod. My ipod is cozy at home, my phone is taking photos.

PENS! I'll also shove needles in there a lot, I'm sure. I'll probably forget them too and stab myself when I reach in for something. That'll be fun!

Here it is all cozy in it's new home! The fabric is just stuff from Joann's. The yarn is from our LYS. It was a funky yarn that was super cheap and I couldn't resist it. It'll make a good purse as it won't show dirt at all! Time to swing it around at somebody.

>_>

Ursula, Halloween 2012

You'll have your looks, your pretty face.

And don't underestimate the importance of body language, ha!

- Ursula “The Little Mermaid”

Oh Halloween. I’ve missed being a kid, when dressing up and running around to get free candy was totally acceptable; expected even. Alas, as the body ages, and unfortunately, swells, it’s not quite so easy to pull off. Usually I have to work or have no reason to dress up, but luckily this year we had a nice shindig we were invited to. We also had plenty of time to work on a costume so I knew exactly who I wanted to be.

Oh yes, everyone’s favorite sea witch! As a curvy girl she seemed like a lot of fun. She had attitude, crazy make up, and a great rack. Yeah, that’ll work.

First off I wanted to make tentacle that I could wear almost like a skirt. That way they would hang around my legs and I could take them off if necessary. What I did was pretty easy (this isn’t a tutorial, by any means). I cut out three long triangles: two black, one purple. When they’re done getting sewn together I turned them right side out and stuffed them with polyfil and put wire in the ends.

The suckers were just suction cups that were spray painted pink. They did not last very long, unfortunately. I did hot glue them on, but alas they just fell right off anytime they were bumped too hard. it was kind of fun at the party to find them and stick them to people. They never ended up anywhere very appropriate with their shape, but it made for a good laugh.

The rest of the outfit was just a corset, frilly skirt and some black tights. My hair was done with a half bottle of gel and white hair spray. With my thicker hair it was a bit hard to spike it up so I did what I could. I made the mistake of using some pretty cheap makeup so the lipstick didn’t work out for well, or last very long, but the bright blue eye shadow worked out just fine

This picture was taken towards the end of the night, so the hair was going a bit limp, but the rest was working just fine. I did have the beauty mark and bright red lips at the beginning, but alas!

The final bit was her necklace. That was easy enough. I just used polymer clay, baked it and painted it gold. I made sure a hole was formed before it was cooked so that I could string it up.


And ta da, Ursula was complete! Most people were able to guess who I was right off the bat. Even though I took up a lot of room with the tentacles it was worth it and a ton of fun to dress up as!

PS: Bkins (the husband) was just a general zombie killer/survivor. He had lots of blood, a nice big bat, and his airsoft gun, ready to defend us from the undead hordes. It was a very good time. :)