Stolen: My Gorgeous Summer Purse

Isn’t this a gorgeous purse? We were  in San Jose del Cabo for our 30th anniversary in April.  I was shopping for light cotton shorts, when I saw this.
 It was love at first site. My Beloved liked it too. He admired the colors and the interesting design. This one was in the window. I hated to  disturb the artful window display, but since the US press has tried single-handedly to destroy our tourist industry here in Mexico, I figured a sale meant more than a pretty window.
 I immediately dumped (or to be polite transferred) the contents of  my current bag into this one, and put the old one in the shopping bag.
 As soon as I walked outside, I received compliments.
 It is gorgeous.
 I loved it. I say loved, because  an intruder, low-life deadbeat, druggie  entered my house two Sundays ago -while we were there- and stole this purse and other things.

Yes, we were home. Good thing I ignored the tell-tale signs of someone  being in the house. I thought it was our guests. If someone is so brazen as to enter an occupied home, they may have also had a weapon.
 This does NOT reflect on  Mexico as  a crime-ridden hell hole. This reflects on low-lifes and deadbeats. They are everywhere in the world.Before you blame Mexico, thinks about the rash of mass shootings in the US in the last few weeks.

Back to the bag. It is a straw body, and it is lined with a whimsical print,that has some perfect Diva-esque sparkle.
 It had only one inside pocket. I make purses, and they all have loads of pockets. I was trying to stuff only the essentials into the tiny zipper pocket. Well everything seemed to be an essential!
 so I made these pouches to hold my essentials :

My Perfect Pouches made from a Lazy Girl Designs pattern

Luckily my iPhone and camera were both charging in my sewing room office. I was at the computer when the deadbeats were helping themselves to my purse and jewelry.
Do you think they gave my goreous purse, pouches and contents to one of their molls?
 I hope I see her walking around La Paz with my purse.  I’ll take it from her. I have the police report.
 And I posted it on Facebook.And my friends said they have their eyes oput for it. It is one of a kind.

When I bought the purse, I thought it would be fun to copy. I had a couple of straw purses back at the house that had seen better days, I figured I could copy the bag. There is no copyright protection of pattern or designss in fashion, and I was going to make the bags as gifts.
 So here is a partially completed bag I am making for Miss Meliss:

 The bag body is orange straw with some sequins. But I have replaced the handles twice, and a pen leaked staining the lining and leaving a big blue spot on the outside of  the  bag.
 This is the perfect way to recycle this bag. I love the colors, and the finished bag will be an eye-popper. But sewing the cord around each fabric “sausage” is difficult and as I go lower on the bag it is even harder.
 If I make this again, I will open a side seam and work on a flat surface. I keep my eyes out for straw bags.
 There are people selling sombreros on the side of the road, but no straw purses.
 So here is the lining with a row of pockets attached:

The colors are so bright they look good enough to teat.

The pockets are 6 inches deep and I stitched dividers to fit  Miss Meliss’ iPhone 4S , her field notes booklet, a tissue pack, and pens.
then I plan to make a Perfect Pouch in the medium size to sew in to the opposite side of the bag. This will be zippered, for  things she may want to keep more secure. like her coffee card!

Fabric for a sewn in pouch.

I am not going to make braided cord handles because  Melissa likes her bags to cross her body.
 So how I did it:
 I carefully examined the fabric sausages and saw thet there were simply folded over some batting. The raw edges were not even finished.
 I cut 2″ wide strips an inch longer than the bag circumference at its widest part.
 Then I cut 1 “wide strips of  batting. I folded the  fabric over the batting and tried to sew it on with the raffia as I went. What a mess. I started out using pink raffia, but it went missing with my purses and jewelry.
 So I decided to glue the  fabric sausages on to the bag. At first I left a wide separation between the sausages to show off the sequins. But it just looked  funny.  No other word, just funny.
 So I cut 1.5″ strips and wrapped them around some 1/2 inch cording  and glued them on the bag. At first I was cutting and knotting  the raffia  after each turn around a sausage. that is painstakingly slow and as I got deeper down into the bag, near impossible.

Did this look like the original? I thinks so.
 Would I do it again? Well when I finish this one, I have come up with a novel approach to  achieve a similar look. It involves strip patchwork and quilting.

Will I ever see my original  purse again? Probably not.
 My Beloved drove the lengtht of the beach looking at every bag in sight, he checked all of the garbage containsers in the neighborhood and the truck stop on the highway.
 I believe these lowlifes gave it to their  criminal bunny as a gift.
 Melissa’s birthday has passed, but Christmas is coming!

Here is a photo taken from my terrace on the day of a BIG storm in La Paz:

You can see the rain pouring down. It was magnificent! And badly needed.