The Zen of Using Other People's Tutorials

Sometimes, reinventing the wheel is absolutely no fun and takes up way too much time. So, when I picked up a really cute wallet/purse frame, I wanted to find out how to make my own, but I didn't want to reinvent the wheel.

So, Google to the rescue! A quick search online for "purse frame patterns"  found several web pages that had instructions for how to make your own.  After perusing several of them, I found this website the most concise and helpful. And I started constructing my own pattern using her instructions (with my own modifications, of course!).

Here's the pretty purse frame, and my rough drawing of the pattern based on the instructions. I didn't quite make it as long, but I wanted to get the angles correct.

I had some left over hand-woven fabric from my Zippered Pouch, and had "just" enough to create my own little purse wallet. So using my drawn pattern, I cut out the remaining handwoven fabric.  I opted to use orange linen for the lining because I wanted to see inside the wallet for loose change, etc.

I skipped her optional steps because I didn't want a flat bottomed wallet. In addition, I did make one minor change to the very wonderful instructions on that website. Instead of glue'ing the fabric into the frame, I opted to sew it instead. This purse frame had holes just for that very purpose. It did take a bit of finagling to put the fabric into the frame and pin it, but then once I got started it was pretty easy.

But, overall, I found the instructions extremely simple and easy to follow. I pretty much followed the instructions without a hitch.

And here's the finished wallet! It's big enough for coins, spare cash, and maybe a few cards.

Sufficed to say, I was rather pleased with the tutorial, and it was much MUCH nicer to use someone else's tutorial than try and figure things out myself.

The Internet has really made crafting much easier. Chances are that someone, somewhere, has done a similar project and written up instructions for it. It's just a matter for YOU to do some searching and looking. The time you spend researching can save you quite a bit of time trying to figure things out, as well as help you avoid some pitfalls that others have made.

And, of course, if you can't seem to find what you're looking for, you can always write your own tutorial and help another crafter out.