r/Visiblemending • u/Kalichun • Feb 03 '25

MIXED METHODS Refreshed a favorite travel purse

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Gallery image

Gallery image

This little purse had just the right number of zippered pockets for travel but the faux leather was beyond help. We had a pair of socks that had holes that weren’t great for darning so… voila, now I have a cute cushy travel purse with a fun pattern! The black stretchy socks were very forgiving for sewing around the zippered openings! Photos show before and both sides of after

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101

u/StepfordMisfit Feb 03 '25

How did you do it? I have a bag that could use something like this.

158

u/Kalichun Feb 03 '25

  1. I cut socks to make large flat pieces. Made darts to work around the heels. Stitched the large pieces together to make a large piece of material.

  2. Sewed a 3-sided pocket that fit around purse.

  3. Next I carefully cut a slit where first zipper was. I found I could stitch the fabric edges into the stiff part of the zipper very easily. I used mostly a strong back stitch but also some whip stitch.

  4. Repeated for other zippers. I took breaks after each zipper. The sock fabric was easy to stretch and was very forgiving.

  5. At top, sewed close to final zipper.

58

u/StepfordMisfit Feb 03 '25

Ahhh I was envisioning a whole disassembly of the old bag and creation of pattern-like pieces from it. Your method is way better!

64

u/Kalichun Feb 03 '25

Thanks! Yeah, this little purse has a bunch of interior zippers too - I was able to keep all the original functionality without it being such an eyesore

Edit: yep basically encapsulating

16

u/StepfordMisfit Feb 03 '25

Absolutely! Wonderful choice of socks. Love it.

38

u/mathheadinc Feb 03 '25

You used SOCKS??!?!?! You did an outstanding job of making them look like one piece of material. Excellent work 🤩

19

u/Kalichun Feb 03 '25

I got the idea from this subreddit!

3

u/mathheadinc Feb 03 '25

I saw that! 😍

3

u/Squanchedschwiftly Feb 03 '25

Honestly it makes sense I was wondering where such an amazing silly print would be from hehe 😁

3

u/mathheadinc Feb 03 '25

It wasn’t that. The seams are difficult to see which makes the mend that much better. The print is perfect 🤩

7

u/jinjinb Feb 03 '25

this is so great - i'm saving this post for my reference! i don't have purses like this but i am hoping i could use this technique to help save items for other people. thanks for your detail :)

3

u/Dubbs444 Feb 03 '25

This is so clever!