Saturday, February 7, 2009

My new sock monkey purse

I love sock monkeys. It is a strange obsession I share with my mother and godmother, we all love sock monkeys. When James was a baby, his room was decorated with primary colors and Curious George. Not a sock monkey, I know, but a close cousin I'm sure. When it was time for Owen & James to move into a room together, I decided I wanted to make bedding for the boys' new bunk beds out of Moda's Funky Monkey fabric line. After tallying up the cost of fabric for two quilts plus curtains and pillowcases (over $300), that idea went out the window and I hit Overstock.com for pre-made bedding instead and they ended up with a different theme altogether.

For Christmas, my mom bought me a few fabrics from Moda's new sock monkey line, Malibu Monkey. I was not happy with my current purse and I really wanted to use this fabric, so I decided to design a purse of my own using this fabric that I love. It was a lot of fun deciding how I wanted to set up the purse and what size pockets to put in and how to embellish the outside. I ended up making a pretty simple tote-style purse with lots of pockets. My favorite features (aside from the perfectly adorable fabric) are the monogram on the front that I decided to add at the last second and the custom-fit pocket for my beloved new iPhone.

I know, a whole blog just about my new monkey purse seems silly, but my purse is something I have with me all the time. Purses are as individual to their owners and as diverse as the women who carry them. Now my purse is the perfect reflection of who I am and what I like. I just hope it holds up over time, and if not, I hope Moda keeps making their adorable sock monkey fabrics so I can make another one!

The Malibu Monkey line is all sock monkeys at the beach, so most are wearing swimwear and the liner is of different monkeys playing at the beach. The monogram is a beach ball print that coordinates. I used a silky red ribbon for the accent at the bottom and the key loop on the right side of the purse.


The brown on the straps, bottom and pockets is called "sock monkey skin" and it's a flannel that looks just like the brown knit of sock monkey fur. It's soft & so cute!



1 comments:

jenni said...

that is so great you just made yourself a purse! looks hard. and I don't think it is weird at all to write a whole blog about a purse.