Purse Making Directions

From whittling to knitting, how modern men craft

Crafts for men have come a long way since the days when "Popular Mechanics" advised returning World War II soldiers in the rustic arts of whittling and leather tooling.

A compendium from the magazine's postwar archives, "Man Crafts" (Hearst Books, 2009), celebrates male-geared hobbies of yesteryear. It reads like last year's cheeky book by Amy Sedaris, "Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People" (Grand Central Publishing).

"It's meant more as an amusement and a fond look back, more than anything else," says Jacqueline Deval, a Hearst Books vice president, although the instructions in "Man Crafts" are legitimate.

The book throws into contrast how different things are today. Some of its nostalgic hobbies remain popular among women and men, although there might no longer be a market for tin-can candle holders and tin serving trays.

But a quick glance at Etsy.com, an online avenue where people sell handmade goods and old-timey collectibles, also turns up men making soap, glass works and knitwear. Men designing T-shirts and other clothing. Men creating electrical gadgets and making art journals.

And men brewing beer. According to the American Homebrewers Association, based in Boulder, Colo., nearly 750,000 people brew beer at home at least once a year in the United States.

One of them is Mitch Larsen, of Lincoln, Neb., who likes the challenge of crafting a great-tasting beer.

"It's science-y," says Larsen, 41. "There's a lot that goes into making good beer. You can make beer with a kit at the store, but it's not going to be good beer."

Good beer, according to Larsen, requires reading and research, talking with other home brewers, lots of taste testing and making unfortunate mistakes.

"It's a creative outlet for me because I formulate my own recipes," says Larsen.

Joshua Zimmerman's creative outlet is tinkering with small electrical projects. The 28-year-old, fourth-grade teacher in Milwaukee makes Altoid tin USB chargers and flashlights, and small robots from toothbrush heads and solar battery chargers. His creations usually can be made with a few bucks and a few parts, often from recycling old electronics.

Instructions for Bag Making Machine | Bag-Purse.com

Tape two pieces of bag making machine together lengthwise. Measure and cut a 21-by-14-inch piece. Measure up 7 1/2 inches from the bottom and draw a horizontal line. Then measure 1/2 inch up from the bottom and draw another horizontal line to designate the seam llowance. Draw a vertical line 1/2 inch in from both the left and right sides to also designate seam allowances. From the seam allowance lines on the sides draw vertical lines every 2 inches from the bottom seam allowance line to the 7 1/2-inch mark. This is your interior main bag pattern.

Measure and cut a 41-by-7-1/2-inch piece of poster board. Draw a vertical line 1/2 inch in from each side for the seam bag making machine. Measure 4 inches from the seam allowance, and draw a vertical line. Continue to measure every 4 inches and draw vertical lines so you end up with 10 sections that are 4 inches wide. This is your exterior dauber-holder section pattern. Use a protractor to draw or bowl to trace a 7-inch circle on the remaining poster board, and cut it out. This is the pattern for the bottom of your bag.

Trace the main bag pattern and the circular pattern onto the solid-colored fabric, and cut them out. Lay out the large section and match it up to the poster board template. Draw the lines onto the fabric dividing the 2-inch sections.Sew around all four edges, using a 1/4-inch seam allowance. Leave a 3-inch opening on the short end opposite the elastic. Trim the batting as close to the stitches as possible. This will eliminate bag making machine bulk between the layers. Do not trim the fabric. Turn the stitched layers right side out through the 3-inch opening. You now have a rectangle with an elastic loop on one short end and a small opening on the other short end. Iron the rectangle, but do not iron over the elastic loop. Top-stitch across the short end with the opening, as close to the edge as possible. This will finish the end and close the opening.

Using the poster-board template, cut the decorative fabric for the dauber-holder section. Draw the lines onto the fabric that divide the 4-inch sections. Align the lines on the dauber-holder section piece of fabric to the lines drawn on the main bag fabric. Pin in place, then sew down the vertical lines.Place your camera in the camera case. Fold the flap over to the front of the bag to close. Using the elastic as a guide, mark the placement of the button on the bag's front, using a straight pin. Remove bag making machine. Hand stitch a 1-inch flat button to the front of the camera case. Place the camera back in the camera case. Close the flap and place the elastic loop over the button to secure.

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