Expandable

 

I remember coveting my cousin's disco purse when I was a young teenager. It looked a bit like the one in the picture above, except this one is an antique. Hers was a bit more glitzy and shiny and I was so intrigued by the closing mechanism and thought this was the coolest thing ever. That's why I just had to get this expandable frame while I was shopping for purse frames online a while ago and came across it.

I looked for patterns and tutorials online, but couldn't find one, so there was nothing for it but to work it out on my own. I somehow got the idea that I should make it from a circle of fabric (this was before I had googled the one in the first picture). So I cut the largest circle I could on my circle-ruler, 10", in two different fabrics and stitched them together right sides facing, leaving an opening to turn them inside out.

After turning and closing the opening and pressing the circle, I pinned folds along the edge, gathering the opening to fit the opening of the frame fully extended. It took a bit of trial and error - 14 wasn't the easiest number to work with, trying to make even folds.

I got there eventually, though, and stitched the fabric to the frame all the way around, before adding a piece of ribbon  to the two loops on the outside, to make a handle.

This didn't make the best result, I think. I mean, the purse looks quite pretty in all it's polka dot goodness, but the fabric is rather stiff, there is a bit too much fabric gathered at the top and the purse sits quite flat when I close it, making it look like those ice packs you see creatures having on their heads after they have hit themselves in old cartoons. There isn't all that much room inside either, so it's not the most useful item I have made.

I really should have made a more square bag, instead of starting with a circle, to make it roomier, or at least made it from a softer fabric. But that's just something to chalk down to experience, I suppose. It is what it is, for now at least. I might rip it apart and change it later, though - we'll see...