Customizing a Goddess of a Bag

Unique zippered side gusset pockets of my new bag...

Back in the fall, I came upon a relatively new purse pattern from Needle and Anchor Supply Co., by designer Carissa MacNaught. Its elevated name — Goddess of the Sea — struck me more than its looks at first, but upon closer examination of the photos that testers had uploaded of their finished bags, I became quite intrigued by the zippered side gusset pockets. (Because as you may recall, I love side gusset pockets!)

With the main body of the bag being a relatively simple shape, my first thought was to put on my thinking cap and "hack" it.

But my second thought was, why not just support the designer and buy the pattern?

Then my third and final thought was, do I really need another purse?

A quick check through the posts here on this blog verified that I've been using the same bag for a year... my Frankenpurse, aka Seth bag. With that in mind, I gave myself permission to tackle a new one and started planning for it.

The rest of this post will detail — in great length (Long Post Warning!) — how I went about customizing and executing this project.

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Select & Allocate Fabric

This is often a hugely time-consuming step for me, given the constraints of my modest fabric stash. For this project, however, I knew from the beginning what fabric I wanted to use.

When I sold my first few pieces of P&P fabric via Spoonflower, I had it in mind to make a purse out of it at some point. Over the past several years, while other people have made P&P bags, my own plans have largely stalled. (Although I did make a key keeper coin purse out of a couple of swatches.)

My P&P Goddess of the Sea bag...

These two selections are Pride & Prejudice Text (in White) and P&P — Light. During Spoonflower's 50% off fat quarters sale in November, I picked up a fat quarter of each in lightweight cotton twill. Not only is it heavier than a basic quilting cotton, it comes in a wider width, which I figured would meet my needs for this purse (by that I mean the exterior needs; the lining would be something else).

I still hadn't bought the pattern when the fabric arrived, so my initial fabric allocation plans were preliminary at best. At first, I wanted to use some black twill to provide contrast, mainly because my supply of continuous zipper tape was black... but that would have meant using it for the lining and who wants a dark lining? Then I found a large remnant of this Jysk pillowcase that was last used for my recipe box project and decided that the light grey paisley would be the perfect complement to both P&P fabric selections.

But did I have enough? As it turned out, I ultimately needed extra fabric for all of my pocket linings. For those, I went with a black and white microfiber that I last paired with the same paisley on this project, originally a Jysk duvet cover.

Apart from the gusset pockets, it's a simple design...

My original plan was to use both fabrics for the front and back of the bag; i.e., half of each on each side, much like my Seth bag. Once I had the templates to lay down on the fabric, I decided that it would look better to stick with one print on the front and back panels, and use the other on the sides and strap/trim.

The inside of one of those zippered side gusset pockets...

Choose Hardware

All of my handmade bags to date have been trimmed with silver-toned hardware; it's all I buy. With this bag being predominantly white, gold accents seemed a "warmer" choice. Fortunately, I already had what I needed in that department.

Some three years ago, I picked up a second-hand white vinyl purse in order to harvest the following:

A crap load of gold-toned hardware to reuse...

The purse itself was discoloured in spots, so I never kept any more of the vinyl than what you see here. But it was a huge score on the hardware side.

For this bag, I used five rings and two lobster clasps. I took the two zipper pulls off the long white zipper and installed them on some black zipper tape for the side gusset pockets. The white zipper with the identical vinyl zipper pull was ultimately used for a vertical zippered pocket that I added to the back side of the bag.

Oh, and lucky for me, the rivet set that I bought last year came with gold toned rivets. (I ended up using twenty-nine of them on this bag!)

With fabric allocated and hardware organized, the real work could begin.

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Plan & Document Modifications

I don't generally make bags without adding or taking away stuff. That's been the case since the first bag that I ever made, the Professional Tote. Nowadays, I'm just more organized about it and write down my changes so that I know what else I need to modify in order to make them work.

Full view laid out...

Let me state for the record that I like to maintain the spirit of the design when I add or subtract things. I don't see the benefit of changing something to the point where it's no longer recognizable as the source, because then it's really not so much a salute to the designer as look what I can hack your pattern into. It's why I prefer to use the word "customize" to describe what I end up doing.

So what did I plan to customize?

I wanted to add detachable lobster clasps to the strap, to allow more freedom in sewing it up, since it would then be separate from the bag. However, those clasps would add to the strap length, so I had to figure out a way to shorten the strap. (This ended up being accomplished by using the same template for all three sections of the strap; the middle section is normally longer.)

All blinged out...

Modifications planned for inside of the bag were partly forced by my diminishing supply of lining fabric. A large full width divided patch pocket had to be ditched in favour of a smaller one, to which I would add a pen loop (as previously detailed in my handy hacks for handmade bags post).

Modified interior of bag...

I also wanted two other interior pockets: an open slip pocket (essentially a zippered pocket without the zipper) and a standard zippered pocket. This bag closes at the top with a magnetic snap, so having a zippered pocket on the inside is good for security.

Filled to the brim...

Of course, I would also add my handy little hanging loops (also previously described in my handy hacks post) to both ends of the bag. With my generous supply of rivets, I ended up using a few more to add some upscale touches to the pocket and loops.

Three things attached to one hanging loop...

One change that I wanted to make that wouldn't be noticeable to anyone except the original designer was a longer zipper "tab" at the top of the gusset pockets. I didn't like the idea of the zippers reaching up that high on the side of the bag, thinking it would create bulk in an already narrow area. The solution would be to double the length of the zipper tabs and take away the corresponding added length from the zipper tape.

View of the base where I added some rivets instead of purse feet...

I suppose another inconsequential change is that I didn't need to install any purse feet. (The bottom of my bags would never touch a floor — I use a purse hanger — and the only purse feet I have are silver toned.) To amp up the sparkle level, though, I planned to add rivets to the base.

The only really radical modification I had in mind was for the front and back panels. The original pattern called for both to be sewn together from two mirrored pieces of fabric. I didn't want my white fabric to be sliced down the middle — i.e., spoiling the continuity of the printed text — so my plan was to use the lining template and cut the front panel as one piece.

This is the (modified) back side of the bag...

As for the back side, I knew I wanted another vertical zippered pocket (like the one that I added to my Seth bag). However, the way in which this pocket ultimately rolled out was a bit of an accident... which will be explained in the next section.

Cut & Sew

Once I decided that the grey fabric would be mostly trim and contrast, I starting cutting pieces for that fabric, for the lining, and all of the interfacing. As I've said before, I'm slow at cutting, so that task — along with the fusing — took place over a couple of days at least.

After much consideration, I was forced to take the front panel piece from smack dab in the middle of my fat quarter in order to get a centered (fussy) cut. I actually pondered the decision for almost ten days, knowing that it would require the back panel to be pieced together.

Fussy cutting is not my preference if I can avoid it. For a front facing panel on this bag, however, it had to be done to showcase the fabric in the best way.

My modified vertical zippered pocket open...

Unfortunately, I totally forgot about fussy cutting the front facing closure "tab" that overhangs the front of the bag.

See all those various sections of strap? They're made out of equal lengths of the grey fabric, which I cut one after another starting at the left edge of the fat quarter. The closure tab piece was placed at the very beginning, and as it turned out, the "P & P" letters weren't centered from side to side down the length of the strip.

That's when I decided to fussy cut a whole new strip for the closure tab and use the original strip as a bit of contrast to tie together the two pieces of the back panel. Since it couldn't be cut as a single piece anyway, why not have a different fabric in between the two halves so that the non-continuous text wouldn't be a distraction?

In the end, I rather like the way the grey fabric seems a perfect background for the white zipper.

For an idea of scale...

The sewing part took place over two and a half days and progressed smoothly... well, as smoothly as could be with about a ten day gap in between. I had the strap and lining more or less complete before I set them aside to think about the exterior.

The designer likes to use double-sided tape, but the thought of my sewing machine possibly getting gummed up with it was enough to have me opt out. It's not a requirement; over time, I've learned to keep zippers in place quite well with just a couple of pins and my fingers while sewing. For the strap pieces, a good press with a hot iron should be sufficient if you're also hesitant to use the tape.

As I stated at the top of this post, the bag itself does not have a complicated design. The gusset — despite the added functionality at the sides — is put together like a regular gusset.

Add Finishing Touches

Most of the rivets were installed as I finished each component (i.e., base, strap segments, closure tab, hanging loops, interior slip pocket), but there were a few more to put on after the bag was done. (In between my photo shoots for this post, I added a couple at the end of each of the zipper pulls.)

But you've probably noticed the additional bling, right? It comes from this $1 belt that I took apart:

Belts for bags...

By happy coincidence, the black trimmed chain was just the right length to thread alongside the strap. My mother — who is not normally into blinged up bags — thought that this was very elegant.

A new way to use a belt...

The dangling jewels add both weight and "designer appeal" to the ring on the front of the bag. One observation I'd like to make is that the ring by itself did not seem heavy enough... maybe mine is just very lightweight?

Bling fit for a "Goddess"?

This pattern is classified as "intermediate", but I had an epiphany about the whole classification thing while reading through the PDF the first time. I didn't think this bag was difficult to make at all, and the fact that it's labeled as intermediate is only because you don't get super detailed, "photo at every step" type of instruction. (Although oddly enough, the instructions for installing the magnetic snap were about as thorough as I've ever seen!) Don't get me wrong, there is sufficient here to get the job done, but probably not if it were meant for a beginner.

image courtesy of needleandanchorsupplyco.com

You can find this pattern by searching for "goddess of the sea shoulder bag"; it's reasonably priced at $7.77. An add-on pack with instructions for a recessed zippered closure — among other modifications — is available for another $2.50. (I prefer the open top.) The designer also has a private Facebook group that will provide support if you run into difficulties.

The size of this bag is perfect for me, so the transition from my Frankenpurse was seamless. There are almost the same number of exterior pockets, and my use of a purse organizer made the switch quick and easy. Highly recommended if you're looking for a simple yet stylish bag with some unique pockets.

Quite satisfying to report that after almost five years, I finally have my own Pride and Prejudice purse!