Fat Quarter Purse

When I saw this cute purse pattern at wewilsons.blogspot, I decided that it would be the next purse I sewed. The purse is made from just 2 fat quarters. The purse, however, is smaller than I like, so if Ellen claims this, it's hers (let's see if she reads her mama's blog). Because I do like the style and shape, I may try enlarging the pattern and making another for me. We'll see.

lots of pictures here---including a picture tutorial of how I made the inside zippered pocket:

The instructions did not call for this, but I used an inner layer of canvas to give more body to the bag. I used canvas in the straps as well.

The instructions also did not call for an inside pocket, but I absolutely *need* at least one inside pocket in my purses. For the pocket, I cut two rectangles the same size as well as 2 layers of interfacing which I fused to the wrong side of the pocket pieces.

I used a vintage metal zipper from my stash, but since it was too long I had to use needle-nose pliars to shorten the zipper. It's fairly easy to just grab the metal zipper teeth one at a time and pull them off the zipper tape.

After deciding how long to make my pocket opening, I drew a rectangle on the wrong side of one pocket piece and then proceeded to sew the pocket to the purse lining, right sides together, and sewing on the drawn lines.

Next, I cut a slit through both fabric layers, clipping to the corners, and being careful not to cut through the stitching line.

I didn't take a picture of this step, but I pulled the pocket through to the wrong side of the lining and ironed it down. This takes some work to get the pocket to lie flat, but it is possible.

Here is the front of the lining with the finished opening, ready to sew in the zipper.

Wonder Tape-- this is great stuff! It is sticky on both sides, and you can sew through it without gumming up your machine. You can see where I applied the tape to both long edges of the zipper. Next I peeled the paper backing off and laid the zipper in place underneath the pocket opening.

To finish the pocket, I topstitched close to the edge of the rectangle opening. The wonder tape held the zipper firmly in place with no shifting---gotta love it!

Lastly, on the wrong side of the lining, I placed the second pocket piece against the first pocket piece, right side to wrong side and sewed around the edges. While sewing the 2 pocket pieces together, I had to be careful to hold the lining piece out of the way and sew only the pocket pieces. The pocket ends up with a clean finish on the inside, and the only stitches to be seen are around the zipper opening.