Book Purse

After seeing this pin I had been dying to make a similar purse. I really have a hard time destroying any books but I figured if I could find a suitable book cover at the thrift store then I could justify sacrificing a book but then I didn't get to a thrift store and didn't get there and didn't get there....
so I dug through my own shelves - confession - I am a bibliophile!! I have shelves and shelves full of books plus boxes & boxes of books that in all honestly I won't get around to reading all of them :( anyway, I found this small orange book that contained a murder mystery that didn't sound like I'd get to any time soon - my sacrificial "lamb"

I really wanted a book with a green cover but you know what I like the orange -
nice and bright in the gray of winter.
I dug through my fabric stash for something to match the orange and came up with this flower print that I have no idea when & where it is from - possibly from my mother or grandmother's stash.

Then to my leather/pleather tub - a tub filled with old purses given to me by my shop-a-holic mother-in-law (don't tell her I'm cutting them up!), where I found the handles from a previously cut up purse.

The instructions at Country Living have you hot glue all of the lining pieces individually into the book cover so it is a no-sew project - but I sewed the lining pieces together then hot glued it in - seemed like that would make it more durable. I messed around with how to do a closure on it for a while and finally settled on the button hole with the orange bead - which works since I don't need to carry much in it. I did check before dismantling the book that my phone would fit inside and it is just the right size for my cell phone with the folio case (basically my new wallet).
I have to be careful if I toss my keys in also but at this point I'm not worried about it.

So I made something I pinned - yay! Hope everyone is having a good start to their new year.
Blessed Be, Alyssa