Plastic Canvas - My Second Attempt

With my first plastic canvas project completed, my oldest daughter was immediately begging me to make her a purse next.  Since my first one was free style - without a pattern, I thought maybe I should find a template and see if I could follow it.  I found this template for a little purse with an easy looking pattern.  I even had that same yarn (red heart banana berry) on hand so I thought I could recreate it pretty closely.  Then I realized the narrow dimensions when I measured it out and it was very similar to the first canvas purse I made, which was tall and slim.  So again I opted to do a variation of that pattern, more wide than tall, and a bonus flap so you could close it up.  This is what I came up with:

Not to shabby eh?  My front rectangle was 40 x 30 squares in 7 pt canvas. The side strips were 30x10, the bottom strip was 40x10. The back was 40x70 to make a back plus wrap around to make the flap.  Let me show you the back, that's the first stitch I tried with the blue, green, and aqua variegated yarn

It was just a pattern (starting from the lower right corner and moving left - two lines each) of 5 squares up, then 4, 3, 2, then back up 3, 4, 5 to make that mountain/valley look.  On the next row up I did the reverse coming down.  The yarn just kept switching colors as I went along.  Nice!

When I got to what was to be the top flap of the purse, I wanted to try and new stitch, and I thought a solid color might break up the busy pattern.  I ended up choosing a "scotch" stitch and reversed the angles each time.  After a while it made this awesome diamond pattern.  I really like the way that turned out.  I solemnly vow to use this stitch again!

I love the look of this stitch.  It looks complicated without actually being too hard

Drawing inspiration from the color pallet of the variegated yarn, I decided to make the bottom a bright blue.

The sides I made a lovely turquoise color. I also trimmed the whole purse with the same color.

For the handles I used crochet.  With an H hook, I chained 44 then HDC all the way back across, ch 2 and HDC all the way back and finished off.  I threaded the finished ends on my needle and poked through the side of the bag and secured it from the inside.

The button enclosure was my daughter's idea.  She wanted something sparkly there, so I sewed the button in the center, then made a little chain and looped it, secured it to it could reach up and loop onto the button.  So I realize the colors are bright and very youth oriented, but I could do this same pattern again with some black and white checks or some sparkly silver yarn and it might look pretty classy.  


So here you have it, my first ever attempts at plastic canvas.  I love learning new ways to craft, being creative, and having fun in the process.  I can see how this medium could become so addicting, especially when little purses are just the tip of the iceberg.  The things you can make with this stuff seem endless if you are a creative type.

My next thing I want to attempt is a pre-made, PC purse form that I got at Joann's for $1.49 that looks like this and see what kind of little clutch I can make from that.  It really came with no instructions other than an tiny brochure with a few pattern pictures on it.  Wish me luck on that.  Not to mention, my third daughter is now asking for little yellow purse with daisies.  Guess I better get to work!  More soon, stay tuned....