I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of picky when it comes to choosing a purse to carry. Once I have found one that I like I will carry it until it falls apart and I can’t patch it back together. I don’t change it out each season or make sure that it matches my shoes or outfit.

Knowing all of this about myself I usually start looking for a new purse when I first start seeing the signs of wear and tear on my current purse. That way I *should* have enough time to find another one that I like before I have no choice and need a new one.

When I saw this class on Craftsy I knew that I had to get it (it’s currently on sale for $24.99). This was actually the second Craftsy class that I had ever purchased, but was the first one that I actually watched. It is really a fascinating process. Don Morin first teaches you what to look for in leather, the best places to find it, and what weights work the best for bags or purses. Leather is different to work with than cotton so I wanted to make sure that I picked up all of the tips that I could. After all, once you cut your leather there’s no going back. I haven’t actually tried this out yet because leather is a bit pricey and I have other projects that I need to get to first. I definitely am going to give this a try, though.

The great thing is that once you have taken a class you can use the information that you’ve learned and use it to your advantage. Many people who have taken this class have gone on to design their own bags/purses and some of them are quite interesting.

I thought of this leather bag class the other day after I had visited Instructables.com. Instructables are where makers and DIYers gather to post their projects and instructions on how to make that project. Well, they always have a bunch of contests going on and many of them have really good prizes. I have never entered any of the contests, but I have been very tempted many times. I thought that this was a good way to tie National Sewing Month in with another website that you normally wouldn’t run into if you hadn’t already heard about it from somebody else.

Anyway, the Leather Contest seems to be pretty simple. It can be anything made of leather, you just have to write clear instructions, appealing photos and originality. I’m not sure just how you would judge originality, but that’s one of the criteria. The grand prize includes a Canon Rebel digital camera, iPad Mini 3 and various leather working kits/supplies/tools. They also have other lesser prizes, but with some pretty fantastic prizes. Winning second or third place would still be pretty nice. You have until midnight of November 2nd to enter this contest.

Even though this isn’t technically a sewing-related thing I feel that it still counts. Along with contests they also have Challenges now and again. This one is all about yarn. All they are looking for is documentation of something warm and cozy that you are making out of yarn. There aren’t any entries yet, but I have a feeling that’s because people are actually documenting as they go along. Typically it takes a little while to “whip up” something warm and cozy. The grand prize for this one is a $200 store credit to Lion Brand yarn and an Ashford weaving loom. This one is only open until midnight October 19th, so you need to get cracking if you want to try to enter this one.

I know that this post started going in one direction and ended up a million miles in the other direction, but oh well. Hopefully you learned something that you didn’t know before!