Perfect Bag: Using Your Imagination for Purse Hacks and Rules
I wanted to explore the idea of purse hacks, rules, and choosing a perfect bag for your shape as requested by Lynne! Lynne is like the three of us in that she is under 5’4″ tall and feels like some bags swamp her. Or the shoulder strap is too long. And then the cross-body bags feel like they cut her in two.
If you have ever felt this way, then keep reading for some purse hacks and my thoughts.
Quote of the day: “You learn so much from competition you gain confidence every time you have to step up and perform.” Natalie Gulbis
Whether you call that thing you carry around a purse, tote, or bag, there are many articles that will tell you the rules about the size for your shape and what you should and shouldn’t carry.
Now in all reality, I tend to be a rebel when it comes to those fashion rules. I find myself with EVERY shape, size, and color of the purse and personally I like them all.
You can see the examples of a small, medium and large size purse below all with the same outfit. Let’s talk about the facts of purse vs your body size and other purse hacks that you can use with what you have.
Related post: When your purse is your style inspiration
Does the Size of Your Purse Matter?
Below are three examples comparing my purse size with my outfit. I am 5’2″ tall and somewhat thin. Now you may have a preference comparing these three purses. But what I want you to do when you think, “I like that one better” is to analyze the WHY.
Why do you like one purse better with the below outfit? Is it the color? Is it the shape? Or is it really the size? Because I would counter that the size is the least thing I focus on.
Insider tip: Focus is a huge factor of an outfit. If you want the focus on the purse, maybe bigger is better. Think about if you want the focus on your hair, add accessories around your face. If you DON’T want focus on your belly, wear statement shoes. So many ways to change the focus.
Other change the focus ideas:
2 Easy Head Cover Up for When You Are Having a Bad Hair Day
Revisited Busty Women’s Fashion- 2 Options to Minimize the Boobs
Instructive Ideas of Outfits for Weight Gain in the Midsection
Purse Hacks for Straps
Now let’s talk about purse hacks you can do with the straps of your purse when they are too long.
1-If there is a buckle and holes in the straps, you can add a new hole with this handy dandy belt hole punch that works for straps too.
2-Below I’m showing how you can tie knots in the straps if the straps are made of thin material.
Insider tip: This can be done at the shoulder too, but I like it nearer the purse so they aren’t as obvious.
3-With a flap purse and a thin strap, you can wrap the strap on the inside each way to shorten it.
Voila, the difference in a hip length purse to a waist length purse.
4- How about switching out the strap? Many straps have a lobster claw attachment so it can be a shoulder purse or hand held purse. What this means is you can interchange straps from other purses that have this feature.
Not only does this allow you to add different color straps to your purse, but different lenth ones also.
Other Purse Hacks
1-Cover the handles
Personally, I tend to carry my purses by their handles. I’ve had too many neck issues from my gymnastic days PLUS my dentist days (have you ever seen how a dentist sits? It’s not good).
Because I don’t spend a lot on my purses, I have experienced the straps wearing out like below. Does that mean I throw them out? Of course not. I use my handy dandy trick with a scarf (the video is here) to create a beautiful handle.
You can see the same purse with a different scarf covering the handle here.
Insider tip: You can use many thinner scarves for this purse hack. These Gibby scarves work easily (use code Jodie20 for 20% off) or fold a square scarf into a thin rectangle.
2- Add interest to a plain purse
You see the three of us add scarves to our purses all the time. Why buy a new purse when you can change the look of your existing one with one of your amazing scarves?
Examples:
I added two scarves to my tote.
Charlotte incorporated colors with her argyle scarf.
Lesley thinks of it as a great way to carry a pashmina for the colder stores and restaurants.
3-Crossbody purse hacks
I echo Lynne’s reason for not loving crossbody bags most days. It always seems to emphasize the girls. That’s exactly why I have embraced the belt bags and backpacks.
BUT if you already have a crossbody bag and want to make them work, try matching the strap to your top. My outfit this day made me realize that I didn’t notice the crossbody bag strap as much when it blended into my shirt.
Thank you
If you’ve enjoyed this, I hope you will look around the site and…
- find out more about the blog here. Including behind the scenes of our relationship here.
- you can see all the categories of past posts here
- feel free to use any discounts or deals that I share here.
- make sure to sign up for emails to enjoy fun features in every email PLUS get my recent eBook here.
- follow me on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest.
- and if you ever want to reach out or have any requests, feel free to email me at JTouchofStyle@gmail.com
If you enjoyed any of this information, I would appreciate if you would share, share and share wherever you can!! You can do this by saving an image to your Pinterest board or sharing this post on Facebook. Or send this post to your friend, and make sure they sign up for the emails.
Why should you sign up for the emails below? I include some personal tidbits in these emails along with other happenings, sales, information, and links. So I hope you join me on this journey.
