Work-in-Progress Wednesday

This morning I'm working on my Linen Stitch Coin Purse. The purse is knit in two pieces, seamed and then inserted into a 4 inch purse frame. As of this morning I've completed the knitting, seamed the purse, glued the fabric into the metal frame. With my very smallest sewing needle I've started hand sewing to secure the fabric through the pre-punched holes in the metal frame.

I've used Hand Maiden Sea Silk (fingering) left over from a Clapotis knit last year so this is a stash-busting project. The two pieces of this purse used 22 grams of yarn leaving me with enough to make one more. Knitting on 3.25 mm needles has resulted in a nice sturdy fabric in linen stitch.

When I was knitting the pieces I did notice that my overall width was 4.625" rather than 4". Being larger isn't much of a problem at the bottom of the purse below the frame but where the knitted work is inserted into the channels in the frame I had to force the excess width in resulting in some subtle puckering. When I do this again - and I will be doing it again because I have five more purse frames - I think I'll narrow the width by four stitches. And if you're interested, I ordered the frames here.

I used my sewing machine to stitch the bottom and side seams but that was a mistake. My machine struggled with the bulk of two thicknesses of linen stitch and it was hard to keep those seams straight. My bottom corners look a bit pointy but I'm hoping to block it to a more rectangular shape once I've got the purse securely sewn together. Next time I'm going to hand sew these seams. In the designer's photo her seams provide really nice bulk to the sides of the purse; nicer than had it been knit in the round.

On her purse the designer also added a fabric liner. My attempt was an epic fail but it would be a nice touch, so maybe I'll be more successful at this on my second time through the pattern.

I was really nervous about the step where I was to glue the purse into the frame but that ended up being easier than I feared. I used Super Tacky white craft glue - the stuff that dries clear. I thoroughly lined the channels in the metal frame using a toothpick to distribute the glue evenly. Then I jammed in the fabric, again using the toothpick to really force every edge in there. After letting it dry for about 20 hours it didn't look half bad. Once those edges are reinforced by sewing I'm going to see if I can't clean some last splotches of glue off the metal frame with rubbing alcohol.

Overall, there's room for improvement, but my worst fears have not been realized so I'm feeling pretty positive. It's work-in-progress Wednesday - you'll find plenty of inspiration in the links over at Tami's Amis!