Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Riff on a 1 hour handbag

I found the most adorable pattern and tutorial over at the Ric-Rac blog and could not wait to try my hand at making one.
Here’s the link to Jodie’s 1 hour bag tutorial. Her version looks super professional and her tutorial is clear and easy to follow.
Honestly, with getting all my sewing stuff around, folding loads and loads of laundry, making lunch, cleaning up after lunch and generally rusty sewing skills, this bag took me a BIT (read: A LOT) longer than an hour.
I made a few changes that worked for me, and have now made a couple of versions…


Here’s how it went:
I took Jodie’s measurements and made my own rough pattern which I pinned on the fold of a really hideous pair of jeans.  I needed two pieces cut out from the denim.

I also used some heavy twill for the lining of the bag.  Using the same pattern, I cut out two lining pieces from the twill.

I am LOVING ruffles lately (who in blogland isn’t ;)  so I wanted to add some ruffles to the front of my bag.   There are plenty of great tutorials out there on “ruffling”… I basically cut two strips from my base fabric about 4” wide and 20” long (the gingham fabric) and then used an accent fabric (white with black flowers), cutting it 3” wide and 20” long.  

Positively Splendid has a great ruffle tutorial over here:  Ruffled Sunglasses Case
To “ruffle” the fabric, I set my sewing stitch length really long and my tension really high.  I basically smooshed my fabric thru my sewing machine, one layer at a time.


When both pieces were ruffled, I pinned the ruffles to the denim fabric, making sure to have some hanging off the edges of both the top and the bottom.

I then used my machine’s zig zag stitch, again at a long stitch length to sew the ruffles down the middle to the right sides of my denim (main) fabric.
I did not have any of the super cute buttons that made Jodie’s purse look so adorable, so I opted to make a handle that would allow me to carry it over one shoulder and have it fit pretty tightly under one arm.  Because I was using heavy fabrics, using batting (or wadding as it is called in Australia) was not necessary.  I cut my fabric for my handles 4” wide by 30” long (this is longer than you need, but I wanted to tuck the ends into my bag and really customize the length.
After cutting my fabric, I folded each long side of my fabric into the center and ironed it down.  I used one strip of accent fabric (the gingham) and one strip of lining fabric (the twill).  I folded and ironed each the same way.


I pinned the fabric together, with the right sides out, and the used my machine to stitch down the edges of each side.   I tried to stay as close to each edge as possible.  Because I was planning to sew the handles into the top seam of the bag, there was no need to stitch right sides together and turn the handles.
Then I got to work on a pocket for my bag.  There are two things I ALWAYS lose in my handbag: my lipstick and my cell phone.   I decided I wanted two pockets inside.
I cut out my accent fabric (white with black flowers) 9” wide by 6” long.  I like the look of the stitched top, so – as Jodi suggested – I pressed the top of the fabric over ¼” and then folded and pressed again.  I used my machine to stitch straight across the top of my pocket.

Back to the ironing board, where I pressed all the remaining edges over ¼”.  I then pinned the pocket to one piece of lining fabric.  (Be sure to pin to the “right” side of the fabric)  I sewed around the entire pocket and then sewed up on the center line to create two pockets.

To put the whole bag together, I pinned my outer fabric pieces together (the denim).  Make sure those right sides are facing one another (ie: my ruffles were inside the bag).  I sewed using a ½” seam allowance all the way around the sides and bottom of the handbag, leaving the top open.


Then I flipped the outside of the bag right-side out.

Next, I sewed up the lining of the bag (the twill).   Sew the lining pretty much the same as the outside of the bag – EXCEPT FOR ONE IMPORTANT POINT:  LEAVE A TWO-INCH GAP at the bottom.  This will enable  you to turn your handbag after stitching it together.

After sewing the lining, put the inside and outside of the bag together.  Place the outside of the bag (right side out) into the inside of the bag (inside out).  The right sides of the handbag will be facing each other.

Pin the top of the handbag together along the two long sides.   I am SURE there is a better way to do the handles than what I did, but I left a two inch gap unsewn at each end seam of the handbag.  I used these holes to insert the handles.  Stitch the top of the bag with a ¼ “ seam allowance.

Turn the entire bag right side out thru the opening in the bottom of the lining.  Then put the lining inside of the bag.  Use your iron to press the top seam flat, being sure to fold the ends and press them in (the area that you did not sew to slip the handles in). Slip your handle into each end of the handbag, pinning them to the handbag. 

Use your machine to topstitch all the way around the top of the bag, holding the handles in place, and giving a finished look to your bag.



Here’s another bag I made, without a ruffle, adding the embellishment of fabric rosettes which were attached with Fabri-Tac fabric glue.




This is my first tutorial! I'd love to hear your comments. Thanks so much to Jodie for a great lauching-point and a sweet email about blogging etiquette.  Make sure to check out her blog! 
So excited to begin blogging my way thru my Pinterest account …I’ll be showing you many more crafty tutorials - hopefully they’ll be fun for  you too!  Make sure to Follow Me if you'd like to see more!

2 comments:

  1. yay samantha - don't tutorials take ages !!!!!
    It looks great.

    ReplyDelete
  2. LOL! They DO! Thanks Jodie :)

    ReplyDelete