When I was in Italy, my aunt gave me a fabulous purse. She said that when she saw it, she thought of me. No surprise there. My husband says I'm like a crow. If it's shiny, I like it! Unfortunately, the handle came off it a week or so ago. I was quite irate since it is a nice bag and a good size to carry my crap stuff.
At first I thought I would just sew it back on, albeit with stronger thread. Turns out the handle was just sewn together with regular thread! No wonder the handle parted company with the bag. A closer inspection revealed that the other handle was also coming loose:
Although "loose" seems to be a bit of an understatement! So, I ruminated over this for the past week. Then yesterday, while photographing my birthday loot to show all of you, I realized that the answer was right in front of me! The bag in yesterday's post had a chain for a handle. Why couldn't I do that?
So I went to my local fabric store and asked if they had decorative chain. They did! Then the problem of how to attach the chain presented itself. I thought maybe a jump ring would work. Although I was concerned that the ring might open up and leave me back where I started...a bag with no handle. I went to my local big box craft store and perused the jewellery making stuff. Ha! I know, I'll use split rings. Decision made, little bag clutched in my sweaty hands, I rushed home to try it.
Half an hour later....
I threaded the chain through the channel where the handles were originally. Then I attached the split ring. I threaded the chain through the split ring and then attached a second split ring to the other end of the chain. At that point I decided how long I wanted the handle and attached the 2nd split ring to the chain far enough along to make the right length! I repeated the process for the 2nd handle and I was done.
Yay!
I'm off to load up the purse.....
Ciao!
