as small as a world and as large as alone

7:41am July 1, 2015

A caregiver just put in her two weeks notice about a week ago, so I made her this purse. She dresses in a really unique way so I wanted to make her something equally unique, and I came across this modern variant on a miser’s purse (called that because it’s easier to put things in than take them out of the original versions, which are generally two sided and designed for two different sizes of coins).

It basically takes yarn and a keyring to make along with the usual crochet supplies. Here’s the pattern: Tasseled Miser’s Purse Crochet Pattern. It’s not exactly the same as what I made. It uses beads for decoration, whereas I used a feathery trim instead. But it’s basically the same idea.

Anyway, as the pictures above show, the strings at the top act as a drawstring holding the purse closed, then you open the flap and pull apart the strings (which are invisible from the underside of the flap, making it look like there’s no opening at all) to get it open.

As far as I know, while this is based on the design of old fashioned miser’s purses, it’s not the same, as normally the ring would have more of a role in what size coins go in, and normally there are two sides, among other things. But I haven’t seen or made the older versions yet so I don’t know for sure. I didn’t fully understand how this one worked until I had made it. And I made this version partly because two weeks notice is not enough time to buy materials for a totally new kind of project, and this version requires no extra things that aren’t around the house. But I very much want to make different versions of this later on when I have the time, energy, and money to spare.

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