SOLIDWORKS Helps Bring Maker’s Dreams Come to Life

I am always taking on a new maker project and one of my favorite things to make is a new purse. I get to enjoy my new creation almost every day.

I have made a few purses in the past and I wanted to make a new one with wooden sides and an interesting geometric profile. I used SOLIDWORKS to decide exactly what shape I wanted. This allowed me to quickly change the angles and side lengths until I finalized my design.

Once I noted all of my final dimensions, I used a miter saw to cut all of the side panels and created a jig to glue them all together. Whenever I glue wooden pieces together that need to be perfectly aligned, I cover one surface with wood glue but leave a couple spots blank and put a dab of super glue on those spots. I then align the pieces and use a clamp, jig, or pile of books to add some pressure and join the pieces.

The super glue acts as a clamp that can allow me to ensure that my pieces aren’t going to shift out of alignment when I leave them to set. The wood glue is very strong and will supply most of the bond between the two pieces.

I decided to line my purse with some fun holographic scale print fabric that I had left over from the dinosaur Halloween costume I made myself last year! This adds a vibrant pop to the inside of the purse.

I then adhered a layer of white leather to the front and back of the purse. I used fabric glue when gluing fabric to fabric and super glue when gluing fabric to wood.

I decided to make it easy on myself and purchased a white leather cross body strap online. I then added a triangle hanger to each side of the purse so I could easily hook the straps on.

The wooden accent piece on the front has a small neodymium magnet embedded in it. I created the accent by laser cutting a bit of bamboo scrap and using a dremel to hollow out the space for the magnet.

Finally, I have my finished purse!