https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/doctor-who-coin-purse • Posted by Gingerbread1992
I needed a new purse but didn't have the money to buy a nice new one, so I rummaged around for scraps and found just enough cross-stitch aida to make this. Pretty much all of this is made from recycled materials that I found around my house, but I'm sure it would not cost much to buy anything you yourself may need. Apologies for the tremendously long list of instructions, I am merely trying to make it as simple as possible.
I needed a new purse but didn't have the money to buy a nice new one, so I rummaged around for scraps and found just enough cross-stitch aida to make this. Pretty much all of this is made from recycled materials that I found around my house, but I'm sure it would not cost much to buy anything you yourself may need. Apologies for the tremendously long list of instructions, I am merely trying to make it as simple as possible.
First off, here is a very basic diagram/pattern that I quickly drafted in case anyone needed something precise (apologies for the shoddy drawing quality, I did not have a ruler in my possession at the time) Measure out (using pencil) how big you want your coin purse to be and carefully mark out the blue squares first. Then stitch them in.
Next mark out the white in the windows and door and stitch in the same way. Do the same for the yellow light on the top. Finally sew in the lines of black to outline the TARDIS, door, windows etc As you can see, I had some space to fill so I stitched out 3 identical Tardises- but this is entirely up to you!
Next you need to add a border. Again you can do this whichever way you want, however I did it this way: Expand each stitch to 4 squares instead of 1 (this makes it bolder and quicker to stitch) I made a row of three stitches for the sides (to allow a bit of seam allowance when sewing later) and two rows for the bottom and top lengths.
Next I filled in the rest of the background with plain diagonal stitches (I realised that if I had continued using bigger stitches it would look uneven around each TARDIS) After I had finished this I did a couple of random opposite-diagonal lines just to give it a bit more texture. Of course all this is completely optional :-P
Next I overlapped the white background with yellow stars that I sporadically stitched in as well as a few glass seed beads, just so that it would catch the light. I finished the design by sewing a plain border to outline the large squares of the stitched 'frame' PLEASE NOTE: After you have finished stitching your design and you decide to cut off the excess fabric, made sure to leave plenty of room at the top for the zip.
Now comes the tricky bit! I found an old dress that had some nice blue lining on it. So I cut it out, laid it flat and measured so that the entire strip of fabric is 2X the size of the design. Then I pinned the design to it (face up) and cut out the rest of the blue fabric.
The next thing you need to do is fold the piece together, so that the blue fabric is 'sandwiching' the design, which at this point is face down. Then pin together, ensuring that you haven't pinched into the design and have stuck to the 'large stitch' border. (Of course only stitch three edges, leaving the top open and ready for the zip)
Sew together using a sew machine, or by hand. When you are finished sewing, flip the purse inside out and make sure you haven't damaged the design or over-sewn. The next thing you need is your zip- this can either be bought or extracted (I found a couple from old pairs of jeans and another from an old handbag) but as long as it is a tiny bit longer than the length of the purse then it will work fine!
Hold the zip face down and pin the strip of 'zip fabric' (the one furthest away from you) to the top front of the purse and sew it in place.
Then carefully fold the purse inside out again and sew the other edge to the fabric. To keep it straight, it helps to tuck the ends of the zip into the purse. After you have sewn the zip in place, pull the design back out and you are finished!