By Kris Coronado
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, July 13, 2008

Call Courtney Ruff creative; just don't call her a crafter. "To me, that means Styrofoam balls, googly eyes, fake flowers and tacky glue," explains the 28-year-old, who lives in Alexandria. Knitter? Sure. Crotcheter? Sometimes. Glass stainer? Occasionally. Spider-Man shower-curtain purse maker? Recently. (Back to that in a minute.)

Ruff, who moved here from Salt Lake City in January, is a do-it-yourselfer who combines a little ingenuity with a can-do attitude. Her inspiration comes from a wide array of sources, including a 2005 trip to Guatemala and the Anthropologie catalogue. One day might find her making beanie hats for her buddies; the next, she's rechristening an old Atari game as a set of playing-card holders.

Her Spider-Man bag's bold reds and blues are particularly eye-catching. Something Mary Jane herself would be proud to wear. Ruff got caught up in the, uh, web of pursemaking while browsing the aisles at Target. "I saw a shower curtain for four bucks and thought, 'Why not?'" Two years later, she's still making bags out of the same curtain. "I've got to finish it up," she says, laughing.

Follow these six steps to create one of your own (and, no, she won't be mad if you go for a Superman or Wolverine print instead).

· One plastic patterned shower curtain

· One yard each of lining fabric and interfacing (available at craft and fabric stores)

· A marker

· A pair of scissors

· One yard of ribbon

· A roll of duct tape

· Needle and thread or sewing machine

1 Using the marker, draw two 8 1/2 -by-11-inch rectangles on the shower curtain. "The beauty of the shower curtain is that you can use a permanent marker and it doesn't matter," Ruff says. "It's going to be covered up once you sew, and it won't bleed through because it's plastic." Then snip out what you've traced. Next, cut one-inch squares from the bottom corners of each rectangle. (Note: Position the rectangles so their longer sides are at top and bottom for a tote that's shaped like Ruff's.)

2 Layer the curtain rectangles on top of one another (Spidey pattern facing inside). Starting on the right, sew a 1/2 -inch seam along the sides and bottom of the rectangle, leaving the top and the one-inch squares open. Thread color and type is up to you, Ruff says: "Whatever you find in the dollar bin will work just fine!" For stitch length, she says, set your sewing machine to its average (which will vary from one machine to the next). If you're sewing by hand, go for a 1/8 - to 1/4 -inch-long stitch. Anything much longer than that won't hold the bag together, while too-short stitches risk shredding the curtain.

3 Make the corners of the bag. Pinch together the opposite corners of each square, bringing together the bottom and side seams at the center to create a flat seam, and sew together. Repeat with the other bottom corner. Finish by reinforcing the seams with duct tape. "I reinforced all of my seams with duct tape after I sewed them. If you do it before then, you're going to gum up your sewing machine," Ruff says.

4 R epeat steps one through three separately with the lining fabric and interfacing. Insert the lining into the interfacing. Sew the two pieces together around the opening at the top. Turn the piece inside out so that the lining is on the outside.

5 Add ribbon handles. (Ruff recommends a ribbon that is 3/4 -inch wide or wider, for sturdiness.) Decide how long you'd like your handles to be, then cut two pieces of ribbon two inches longer than that length. Drape each ribbon, one for the front and one for the back, inside the shower curtain, leaving an extra inch of each end sticking outside the bag. Position the ribbon ends where you want the handles to be and pin. Place the liner inside the bag with the lining fabric facing the right side of the shower curtain. Sew the shower curtain and lining pieces together with the ribbon, leaving a three- to four-inch opening at the center of one side of the bag.

6 Pull the shower curtain through the opening, then push the lining back into the bag and topstitch a decorative border around the top. "The stitch can be straight or something fancy," Ruff says. Let your personality, style, and experience level be your guide.

Voila! You're done. Peter Parker would be proud.