Shop Hop Purse

While we were stuffing our faces at Easter dinner with the Smith's on Sunday, I noticed that Julie had a way cute magazine sitting on her coffee table. I of course had to look at it. It is from the Better Homes and Gardens Creative Collection Magazine, called Bags, Pillows & Pincushions. Really cute stuff in there. (On Monday, I even bought the book... who knows what crazy stuff I'll be making :P) I mentioned that I wanted to make one of those purses, and asked Julie if she would show me how to do it. (I am only semi-comfortable with the thought of making flat-quilts.... not objects that have rounded corners, fold up, and are used for other things than covering up ones self.) She said yes, so we made plans for today to make it.

I chose these way cute fabrics. They jumped out at me. I probably have some scrapbook paper that looks like it too.. hehe..

Julie started by cutting out some templates for the purses. I just thought she looked cute doing it.... so I took her picture :)

We then pinned our fabric together (front, back and batting) and started to quilt it together. Julie did a really cute free-motion pattern on hers, but sadly my sewing machine didn't like my free motion quilting.... so straight lines it is. Not my favorite... but it'll do. (I would have rather had something cute and swirly)

After quilting and cutting bag to it's proper size (Which by the way... the pattern calls for a massive amount of fabric, well, actually only 18X22in, but still, once it was quilted... we cut out THREE purse "bodies" out of it!)

Next we made the shoulder straps to the purse. This pattern called for some materials like Hook and Loop tape and Cotton Webbing. I had absolutely NO idea what those were. Turns out Hook and Loop tape is Velcro, and Cotton webbing is that stuff made out of cheap belts and straps. (see below for close up picture)

Sewing the purse strap and fabric together.

Turns out you can do it a few different ways, but Julie's purple purse strap looks WAY better than mine. I goofed. Good thing this was my trial run, huh?

Now for sewing the binding. They wanted you to cut on the bias of the fabric (the part of the fabric that stretches and has the most give), so we did 45 degree angle cuts. Then we had to sew them together. Fun. :) They never wanted to match up right once you opened it... until I saw Julie marking where she was supposed to stitch. Smarty pants.

Works like a charm, eh?

Okay, so next we sew the straps on the purse. On ours we accidentally put the straps on backwards. The seams were facing the wrong way. Oopsie doodle. I'll have to remember that one next time around too!

Once straps are on nice and tight, we put in the card holder pockets on the inside of the purse. You sew each on individually, and then sew a line going vertically, so that you have dividers.

Next you work on the binding. My least favorite part... EVER. (especially the hand stitching part. I'd rather extract a tooth from an angry beaver... without pain reliever for both me and the beaver.)
Julie did, however, show me a trick to hide where you start/finish the binding. (it's too complicated to explain... just look at the picture above)

1/2 of the binding done. Next was the evil part.
Once the purse was edged properly, all you had to do was sew up the sides, install the "Hook and Loop Tape" and ta-da. You have a purse.

It's actually pretty deep. (my cell phone is in the bottom). It's cute. All I need to do is add a fancy button over the top of the spot that I sewed on my Velcro.

My purse and Julie's purse. It turned out rather well huh?

Things I'd like to improve next time: Longer strap, so that I can wear it across my chest instead of just on my shoulder. Use thread that matches. (I just grabbed my white thread... not thinking I'd have to quilt it). Actually sew the strap on right. Take more time with the binding. Get a cute button already... so I don't have to worry about it at the end. Learn on my machine how to do free-motion quilting.

Thank you Julie for helping me make a way cute purse!! :)