Tutorial: Elle Purse

Thanks for all your nice comments on the last post announcing my pregnancy.
We're so grateful to have a healthy pregnancy and looking forward to another chubby girl!
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On to a new pattern and tutorial:

Lynette gave me some scraps of mustard corduroy from her friend’s skinny jeans she made last year.

So I used some to make Ellie a purse. 

 
We don’t have a ton of girl toys or accessories, so she needed a purse…because lately she’ll grab RJ’s undies and put her arm through the holes and sling it over her shoulder.
So A+ for creativity, but now she doesn’t have to wear her brother’s undies on her arm as an accessory.

It’s a trapezoid shaped little purse with a thick pieced bottom to give it storage room.
Fully lined and easy to customize with buttons, additional pockets, etc. 
I used store bought plastic handles but you could make your own fabric straps easily.
An easy, quick sew and a great use for your scraps!

 elle purse

My purse handles were originally hot pink. 
I got them on sale for $1.00 and I’m not a fan of pink, so I primed them with spray primer and then used two coats of yellow spray paint.

PRINT PATTERN PIECES HERE
To print, simply click on the link and in the upper left corner is a printer button. 
The pattern is only 2 pages and full scale.

Supplies:
1/4 yard each for outer fabric and lining
plastic handle set or ribbon (or you could sew your own strips from fabric)

Pattern uses 1/2” (1.25 cm) seam allowance throughout.

1. Cut out your fabric pieces

You’ll have the same three pieces for both the lining and outer fabric.

2. Sew Bottom to One Bag Front Piece
The bottom piece tapers into the side seams of the purse, so I find and pin the center of the bottom piece and bag side.
Pin centers together and carefully sew around the curve, until the bottom piece tapers into the bag front.

I flip the purse over and repeat on the other side, working from the bottom center around until the bottom piece tapers into the side.

3. Repeat with the other side of the purse.
Start once again pinning the center bottoms together and sewing your way around the edges.
When you get to where the second bag side tapers, you’ll sew right up to the first side as the two seams meet at a crisp point.

To finish the side seams above the bottom piece, simply lay the sides flat and sew from the top down to the tapered point, but not beyond.
When you turn the purse right side out, the side seam should seamlessly split around the bottom bag piece at the junction.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 with the lining and trim excess seam allowances on both.

5. Connect Lining to Outer Purse 

To sew the lining to the purse exterior with right sides together, I place the lining inside out and the purse right side out.  

Position the purse exterior down inside the lining.  Pin side seams to line up.

Because my handles were stiff and obviously couldn’t  pull through a hole in the purse, I left holes to insert the handles once the purse was turned right side out.  I used my handles to measure where I’d need to leave holes to slip in the handles later.

So one side had a seam around the end, then had two holes where the handles would be. 

The opposite side of the purse came around each side seam but left a big hole to turn the purse right side out. 

If you’re using ribbon or fabric straps, you can sew them on the exterior of the purse prior to step 

  Then sew around the circle leaving a few inch hole for turning.  The raw edges of your straps will be hidden in the guts of the purse between the lining and exterior. 

6. Finish Up 

Turn both the lining and purse right side out, then shove the lining back inside the purse.

At this point you’ll have a large hole from where you turned it, or in my case 3 holes for handles. 

To connect my handles to the purse, I cut 1” wide strips and folded them on each other, zig-zagging the seam.  Basically making a belt loop actually. 

To attach my plastic handles, I looped a strap through the bottom and pinned it through the holes I’d left in the top seam of purse.
Working on one handle at a time, I top-stitched around the top of the purse to finish it off.

Simple pattern to make a chubby purse with a narrow neck to keep the treasures from falling out!