Our cousin’s daughter was getting married in Sydney, at Luna Park (should have seen how everyone eyed us all up and down as we walked with other wedding guests through the park in all our glitz and high heels!), and I’d just bought myself a fabulous little black dress with a lovely breezy dark navy thing to wear over it. I liked it especially because it made me look almost slim! I loved how the old gold necklace they had at the shop looked with the navy, so I bought that too. I’d worry about bracelet and earrings later.
Now, since our anniversary was two days after the wedding, we decided to make a week of it in Sydney. I found a lovely bracelet and a pair of earrings to match the necklace. Perfect. But I needed a new purse for this outfit, as none of mine would look at all nice with it.
Of course, I’d only bought the outfit four days before we had to fly out to Sydney for the wedding – nothing like leaving things to the last minute! Which meant that I had even less time to make a new purse!
I’d always wanted to fill the “gold evening purse” gap in my wardrobe, so I searched through my fabric cupboard, determined not to buy more fabric. I found the perfect thing! I’d actually bought this fabric for a quilt I wanted to make, but hadn’t gotten to use it yet.
I love the gold, of course, but I really like the blue through the fabric in the little flowers. Makes it a perfect match with my outfit.
Doesn’t it look brilliant with the jewellery? I picked out this little Liberty tana lawn print I had left over from my hexagon quilt (oh my god! I have to finish that!), and picked up a black zipper.
I decided to use the Nicole Mallalieu “Party Purse” pattern I’d picked up on the trading table at a quilt guild sewing day, and I was amazed at how quickly I finished it! If you like, you can purchase your own downloadable pattern from You Sew Girl!
I think I started at about 6:30am one morning, and by 9am it was done!
I love the gathered overlay! It’s optional, but I think it really makes it evening-y.
I wasn’t happy with the length of the strap when I made the purse; I thought it was too long. But I wore the purse to the MSO last night, and it actually is a perfect length! So that’s good.
This purse is a perfect size to hold my lippy and blush, mobile phone, keys, and cash, with room to spare. Great little evening purse! Now I was all set for the wedding. Just needed to pack my case, and… go!
Oh crikey! I think I’ve used the word “perfect” a million times in this post! It’s just that everything – the outfit, the jewellery, the fabric, the pattern – is… well, perfect!
