Thursday is Purse Day - Fish Purse

 

I made Fish Purse in 2007.  I didn't have any intention of making a fish when I started.  I cut a rectangle of the striped fabric.  I sewed a facing that was mostly yellow fabric, with orange and aqua strips on one end.  Then I put them right side together and sewed on three sides, leaving one short side open.  After turning it inside out,  I started folding and putzing with the short end to make a flap.

That's when it started looking like a fish head to me.  I carried on with that theme and added a great big old slightly bulging fish eye made out of two stacked, rounded buttons. 

 

This closeup shows one of the two metallic fish buttons, around which I wrapped a variety of green novelty yarns to emulate seaweed.

The yellow band with the different colors of metallic variegated thread is how I finished the raw edge after turning the purse body inside out.

There's a relatively heavy-gauge copper wire inside the beaded handle, and it holds its shape nicely.  I've made other beaded handles with beading string, but they're so floppy and unsatisfactory.  The disadvantage of heavy wire is you have a smaller pool of beads to choose from, because they need to have a wide opening.  To secure the handle, I pushed the wire through the top of the purse, then wrapped it around itself a few times.  You can sort of see that on the right.

With the flap open, a peak inside.

Looking at this fussy-cut fish reminds me of a really pretty stained glass fish quilt I did.  But I think we'll save that for another time some months in the future.  We might be feeling a little fished out right about now.