Easy Cross body Purse Handbag Tutorial with Adjustable Strap and Zipper

So to motivate me to finish my sisters purse, which I've been trying to do for about a week now, I've decided to post my first ever tutorial here (hope it doesn't bore you all).  I'm going to edit this post as I sew and finish it tonight....so here we go.  Keep in mind I have NEVER done a tutorial...so I'm open to critique...or even better if someone dares follow it and tell me what part of the tutorial needs help.  Thanks so much.

The
Kiara Cross Body

 

SUPPLIES
*1/2 yard of three separate fabrics (you'll have extra)

*1 yard of fusible interfacing (or fleece depending on how thick/stiff you want your bag)

*Polyester zipper at least the width of your bag but can be longer.

*Nylon Webbing (Or you can make bias tape for your bags strap)

*2 D Rings or Squares

*2 Lobster Clasps

*1 Slide

*Ribbon (optional embelishment)

*Magnetic Snap (or metal snap, button, velcro, just some way to close the flap to the bag)

FABRIC KEY (for visuals)

1. Cherry Blossom Fabric = My main fabric

2. Chevron = Lining

3. Pink Polka = Pocket Fabric

 

PART 1:

1. You will need three different fabrics (or one, your choice).  One main fabric, one bag lining fabric, one pocket lining fabric choice.  You can make your purse any size rectangle you desire but if you wish to make this exact bag you will need to do the following.

2. Cut 2 of each fabric choice into rectangles measuring 8"X11" (for a total of 6 rectangles).

3.  Cut 4 pieces of interfacing measuring 7.5"X10.5"

4. Cut 2 of the main fabric only (purse flap) into rectangles measureing 6.5"X11".

5. Cut 2 pieces of interfacing measuring 6"X10.5".

6.  Go to the ironing board as fuse the interfacing to coresponding fabrics.  Do not interface the pocket fabric (pink polka).  This will leave you a .25" around all of the edges to reduce bulk.

*I've left my purse flaps long for now because I haven't decided how long I want to flap to hang down over the bag. We can trim it down later.  Better to have it too long than too short...

PART 2:

7. Take 1 main fabric & 1 pocket lining fabric and cut them horizontally 3.5" from the top and all the way across (refer to picture).  This is where we are inserting the zipper.  Don't be scared, this is the easiest way I have ever seen to put in a zippered pocket.....promise.

 

8. Take the shorter two pieces (the top two in the picture) and place the pocket lining face up (right side up), then take the zipper and lay it face up on top of the pock fabric, now take the main fabric and lay it face down (wrong side up) on top of the zipper and the pocket fabric (think...zipper sandwich).  Pin in place.  I have an aversion to pinning so I use adhesive tape that doesn't gum up my needles.)

Now we get to go to our sewing machine....

9. Put on your zipper foot and sew down the side of the zipper that is closes to the edge.  Notice the needle position.  Like so...

**NOTE:  If you are using a shorter zipper your zipper tongue may get in the way of your foot.  When this happens put the needle in the down position, raise the foot, unzip the zipper past the foot, and continue sewing.  Everything will be ok....**

10.  Iron the two pieces open or away from the zipper (wasn't sure how to word this step, obviously).

11.  Now go back to your machine, switch back to a regular foot, and top stitch down the fabric.....

Now we are going to do the same thing to the other side of the zipper.  (pocket lining fabric face up, zipper face up on top of that, and main fabric face down on top of zipper....again like a zipper samich.) 

Iron fabric back once again, and top stitch.

It should look like this now.....

TA-DA!!!!  You've just inserted a zipper....wasn't that hard was it?  Okay now set your fabulous zipper pieces aside....or sit and admire then for a second....I'll wait.

PART 3: *The seam allowance is always .25" unless otherwise stated.

12. Now take the zipper pocket lining fabric (Polka Dot) lay it right side up, then take the zipper piece and lay it on top, right side up.  Because we put a zipper in, these two pieces of fabric probably don't quite match up anymore.  That's fine just square them back up (trim off the excesss fabric on the longer piece of fabric)

****IMPORTANT NOTE**** Make sure you open your zipper a couple of inches before you do any sewing.  If you don't you will not be able to open the zipper back up and will also get to spend some quality time with your seam ripper.  If you are like me, seam rippers make me angry....so OPEN THE ZIPPER!

13. Pin the two pieces together.  Also, make sure to pin the zipper pieces so that they will hold their positions while you baste, since you unzipped the zipper a bit....if you didn't go back and unzip the zipper two inches! 

14. Now baste all the way around at 1/8".  I like to slow down and hold the zipper pieces in place as I baste through the OPEN end of the zipper (as shown).  Remove the pins as you go.

15. You can do some trimming here around the dges if you still need to square it up a bit.  Also trim the excess zipper pieces off at this point.

16. Now take the assembled zipper pocket and lay it right side up, take the main fabric piece and lay it wrong side up over the top of the assembled zipper pocket.  You will notice it is a smidge longer than the zipper pocket.  Just trim it down again like we did the piece before.  If you want you can also trim the bag lining pieces as well at this point (the chevron fabric) as they will also be about a 1/2 too long.

*The zipper pocket is under this piece of fabric* (above)

*I put this picture in just to show what I meant by trimming up the pieces.  We aren't doing anything with the inner lining (chevron) pieces yet so just trim them and set them aside*

17. Now that you have everything all trimmed up, pin it in place, making sure the zipper is still open just a little.  Now sew (.25" seam allowance) around the three edges leaving the top open.  Snip the corners off the two bottom corners and turn right side out.  Press well, be careful not to melt the zipper, that would be disastrous.  Now stand back and marvel at your work and all its glory........set aside.

Peak-a-boo

PART 4

18. Now take your flap pieces and cut them down to 5.5" long.  Originally I was going to have the flap cover the zipper but I changed my mind, probably becuse I like the way the zipper looks and don't want to hide it.  If you are putting in a magentic snap you will need to do that now before sewing the two pieces together, if you are using a meta snap without a pretty top then you will also want to install that now.

19. Now take the flap pieces and put them right sides together.  Sew three sides at a .25" once again leaving the top open to turn.  Clip the corners, turn, and press.  Top stitch around at 1/8" from the edge.

20. Gather your flap, your assembled pocket pieces, and some pins.  Lay the flap on the back of the pocket piece, centered, and pin in place.  Take these two pieces to the sewing machine and baste them in place.  Set aside for a moment.

21. Now take your nylon webbing and 2 "D" rings (or 1" bias tape if you so choose), and cut two 5" pieces.  Now thread the nylon through each "D" ring and sew as close to the ring as you can to secure it in place, I chose to use my zipper foot but your regular foot will do just fine.

22. Now take your inner lining pieces (Chevron) and place them right sides together.  Sew at .25" down three sides but leave a three inch opening at the bottom and do not sew the top closed at all.  Notice the two pins in the picture, don't sew between these two poins.  We need this opening to turn the bag when we are finished.  After you sew snip your corners but, do not turn right side out.

23. Now gather your assembled pocket, inner lining, "D" ring pieces, and pins.  Insert the assemlbed pocket into the inner lining wih the right sides together, place the "D" rings centered at each side seam with the rings facing the bottom of the bag.  Pin everything in place.  Make sure your "D" rings are inserted evenly on each side (notice in the picture I'm seeing if the nylon webbing is hanging out te same amount on each side.)

24. Go over to your sewing machine and sew around once at .25" and again at 1/8".  I have found it easier to use the spacer under the back of the foot while you sew over the nylon pieces.  Don't worry if you don't have one, anything can be improvised (i.e. little pieces of stacked cardboard, I've used Lego's before, just something to bring the rear of the foot to the same level as the fron) or you can choose to use nothing it is personal preference.

25. Now your bag should look like this.  Next, trim off the excess nylon webbing.

26. Now turn the entire bag right side out through that hole we left at the bottom.

27. Sew up the opening at the bottm of the lining, as lose to the edge as you can. 

28. Tuck te pocket into the bag and press the top edge.  DO NOT touch te nylon at all, it WILL melt, and it will melt FAST, and mess up your iron, and get goo on your nice new pretty purse.  I am speaking from experience as I accidentally just did this while completing this step.....ARGH...well moving on.

29.  Top stitch aroun the top edge at 1.8".

Your bag should now look like this....

FINAL PART.....FINALLY

30.  The final step is simply sewing your adjustable strap.  I found it easiest to grab one of my bags that has an adjustable strap and just use it as a guide and sew where it was sewn.  I fell like if I try to explain I will just make it more confusing so I'm just going to load the pictures step by step of what I did.











31.  Now just clip the strap to your bag and you are done....



Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!!!!



Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!