What do you do if you want a new purse, but don’t want to spend the money on it? No, theft is not an option, so if you’re me, you get sewing. I’ve been wanting a black drawstring purse for awhile now, but couldn’t justify dropping the cash. I had bought this black faux snakeskin-textured piece of leather at Discount Fabrics in San Francisco a couple of years ago, and was saving it for a special project. The tassels and a few other parts are made from thinner leather from a recycled leather jacket (found on the streets of San Francisco!), and the chain handle is borrowed from another purse.

I traced a plate for the bottom and then calculated the circumference for the sides. Who says you never use geometry in real life? To make sure I liked the size and shape before I cut up the leather, I used some scrap fabric for a quick mock-up and made some adjustments to the pattern.

One of my favorite parts is the bottom. It was inspired by this Alexander Wang Diego Bucket Bag. The spikes are all leftover from other projects, purchased at StudsandSpikes.com. To keep the bottom stiff, I used a couple of layers of stabilizer and some super stiff interfacing that I already had on hand. I already had the D-rings, too–sometimes being a craft-supply-hoarder pays off!

It was kind of challenging to find the large silver grommets I wanted for the rim, because they weren’t coming up in online searches, but I finally found them in person at Michael’s.

Another one of my favorite parts is the bright blue lining. It has lots of pockets, and I figured the bright color would make it easier to find stuff in the bag. Steven helped me braid the cord for the drawstring while we watched “Tangled” this weekend. Well, he held the end of the cord while I braided.

It’s not perfect, but I’m pretty damn happy with how it turned out!