Another Purse

I have been collecting purse patterns and I am behind in making them.  Every time I go to my sewing center I find another project to work on.  I did find some time to squeeze this purse in though.  The pattern is from Indygo Junction with a modification from the magazine Designs in Machine Embroidery.  The modification had some machine embroidery in the center panel and a curved notch in the top band of the purse.  I had every intention of following the plan until I settled on fabrics.  I decided to use old blue jeans with some linen fabric, sort of a shabby chic look.

When I settled on a thin jeweled trim for the center seam lines it gave me the idea of making that center panel into a zippered pocket - with a jeweled zipper.  I found zippers online with swarovski crystals.  They had black zipper tape so the looked great.  The only problem is I couldn't operate them once I have the pocket assembled.  The crystal zipper teeth kept standing out, making it difficult to open and close the zipper.  Had to rip them out add regular zippers, a big disappointment.

The handle tab connectors were done in the hoop on my embroidery machine with the design coming from a Nancy Zeiman collection for purses.  Overall I am happy with the outcome even though I am disappointed in not being able to have bling zippers.  My plan is to add some bling zipper pulls.