Making Handbags & Purses: 50 Patterns & Designs from Casual to Corporate [Hardcover]

Carol Parks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1998

Here, Carol Parks shows how to make different kinds of handbags & purses, from basic hard-working everyday styles to glamorous evening bags. Detailed instructions & illustrations are given for each of the 50 designs.'

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Cloth bags are practical, stylish, and easy to make. This book of step-by-step projects includes envelope bags, shoulder bags, and many small boutique-type bags in delightful shapes. Emphasis is on embellishment with beads, embroidery, tassels, and found materials. Instructions include patterns that must be enlarged, measurements for cutting straight-edged shapes, and stitch charts for several knit or crocheted bags. Each finished project is pictured in color. This book is full of ideas for using small pieces of treasured fabric. A good selection for public libraries.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Eighteen designers address the question, Why carry a purse when one can sport a work of art? The more than 50 handbags and backpacks offered here display variety, beauty, and creativity, as well as a dash of practicality. This clever collection is heavy on evening bags. Reinforced throughout is the fact that small pieces of fabric (such as tapestry, laces, brocades, and leather) can be embroidered, appliqued, tucked, beaded, trimmed, quilted, knitted, crocheted, woven, fringed, and then finished to perfection. Diagrams of techniques are scattered throughout the book to supplement precise numbered directions suitable for beginners. Parks' book will be welcomed in public library collections. Iva Freeman

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Lark Books; 1st edition (February 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579900127
• ISBN-13: 978-1579900120
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,674,158 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't bother, July 7, 2001

By 

H. Risse (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Making Handbags & Purses: 50 Patterns & Designs from Casual to Corporate (Paperback)

If I'd had the chance to flip through this in the bookstore, I never would have bought it. There are no diagrams or illustrations, the directions are confusing, and the bags are generally hideous. (I would say that they were out of style, but virtually none of them could be said to have been stylish in any era.) If you're tempted to buy it based on the other reviews, do yourself a favor and check it out at a library or bookstore first. The (very) few tips it has to offer are better found elsewhere.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive Ideas for the New designer, June 30, 2000

By 

"igaloger" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Handbags & Purses: 50 Patterns & Designs from Casual to Corporate (Paperback)

After spending a number of years making rudimentary custom clutch bags to sell at craft fairs, this book would have made our life quite easy with ideas, innovation, and technique. After reviewing a copy of Carol Parks' book, we are considering re-entering the designing of custom purses. It definitely provides the beginner and master designer with "design food" for thought.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Waste of my money, November 19, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Making Handbags & Purses: 50 Patterns & Designs from Casual to Corporate (Paperback)

In my opinion, I found this book to have some of the ugliest handbags / purses that I have ever seen. I have no desire to recreate any of them.