I once had a silver clamshell purse. It was small and couldn’t fit my entire cell phone, but the silver purse was cute and matched my formal attire as well as any bag I owned. I owned the silver clamshell purse for many years, but didn’t use it that often. It was very small. One day, when I wore the silver clamshell purse out, maybe 9 years after I first bought it, I noticed that the metallic finish was flaking off of the fabric and getting all over my dress. The small purse was too old; it was time to replace it.
But the hardware inside the purse and the chain that held it was still good. So I decided to remake the bag, instead of throwing it out entirely. I have so much fabric, and remaking the bag would recycle it’s good parts. This time, however, I would make the bag big enough to hold all the things I might need.
I went to my fabric stash and selected an iridescent brown and blue brocade. One that I had been saving for a bag just like this. The liner is a tan polyester that matches some of the small detail thread in the brocade.
Using the old silver bag as a pattern (essentially an oval), I cut the new fabric and sewed it to the hardware as before, only bigger, and attached the silver chain with thread rather than little loops that had been worn through on the silver bag.
Now I have a fresh new formal purse to wear or hold.
