Worn out shabby little coin purse - now Shabby Chic

The Lots to Do Challenge
this week is a 'free choice' so here is my entry.

Haruko, my daughter in law, bought me this purse as a present from Japan many many years ago. I am afraid that I loved it so much it wore out!


For once - this looks better in the photo than in real life. But it is faded, and worn - but being the sentimental old thing that I am, I treasure gifts, whatever they are, and wanted to keep using it as it means such a lot to me.

So from Japanese - to Shabby Chic!



More teensy bits of scraps. Layering with Bondaweb to make it strong so that it lasts a lot longer.

I cut out roughly a piece of cream cotton and frayed it, and bonded straight onto the purse in one go to make a strong base and to reinforce the thinning material of the purse. Then I made up a little collage of layers of netting, thin nylon, etc, fraying each layer.

I cut some transparent nylon scraps into leaf and petal shapes and bonded those to Vylene (sp?) to give them strength so that they kept their shape - then added little oddments of lace.

The image is a free one but cut right down to just the face and neck - and printed onto Pabric adhesive material sold by Crafty Computer Paper. This is different to the dry Decal, which is more like a film. The Pabric is a material and boy does it print well on an inkjet printer. I couldn't believe my eyes. I only have an old printer and don't use the manufacturer's ink refills as they are so expensive for the use I get out of it. The images printed better than they do on paper! The face looks and feels like material with a sticky back - and was so easy to use! I used lace etc to the right hand side where her shoulders would be to create the impression of her dress with a collar. Her 'scarf' is a tiny scrap of ribbon - that was so difficult to tie!


I think I might have messed it up with the 'Divine' stamped on material, but its not so 'in your face' when you see in on the purse - and I can easily remove it by warming it and peeling it off - I will look out for something else to go there
instead. Edited to say - that I have taken of the 'Divine' - easy peasy - and will re-work that part of the purse. Will have a play around with it.

The finished purse is now soft and strong - with the layers of materials - looks a bit harsh in this photo - but that's because it is a close up!

What it does mean to me is that I now have a purse that I can use again - with a new lease of life!

Updated photo

I needed a bit of distraction this afternoon so played around with the purse some more.



I have changed the lace around her neck and added some sequins - just happened to find one of those tiny little bags they attach to clothing with a few oddments in. Why I kept them I never know - but I do now - they will come in handy. I also outlined all the leaves with Rose Pink Promarker pen.

Still not 100% happy with it - but for a first attempt I should be!

Thanks for looking and your comments