My Daughter Wants a Purse

My daughter (she's 2 1/2) wants a purse.  She keeps stealing mine and losing all my "accessories."  So I searched the world over and I found the cutest little handbag design, and it's just her size!



I found it here. The site called them "treat totes" and they would be great for birthday party favors etc.  I simply extended the handles and turned them into little shoulder bags.  Now that I've figured out how to make these cute purses I might make the pattern bigger and make a new shoulder bag for myself.  To make these bags you can 1) see how I did it or 2) visit the site I found them on here.

This pattern makes 4 contrasting bags.  Two of each color.

To Make the Little Bags You'll Need:

2 Fat Quarters (Bag)

4 11" by 2 1/2" Strips (Straps)

Cut your fat quarters into 3 6 1/2" strips (6 total)

Cut these strips into:

4- 5 1/2" x 6 1/2"

4- 3 1/2" x 6 1/2"

4- 2 1/2" x 6 1/2"

Take your 11" x 2 1/2" strips to the ironing board.  Press 1/4" on each long end.

Fold strip in half so it's long and skinny, stitch down the long raw end, close to the edge of the fabric.  Set Aside.

Take a 3 1/2" of color 1 and a 2 1/2" of the color 2 and stitch them together along the long side.  For each purse you'll need to do this step twice.

Take one finished strap and pin it to the raw edge of color 1.  Center the straps so each end is about 2" from the edge.  Place a 5 1/2" lining piece of color 2 fabric on top of this piece (right sides together!)
Stitch along the top end where your pins are.

It should look like this when you're done.  (You'll need 2 pieces that look like this.)

 Place one piece on top of the other, right sides together.  Starting about 1/3 the way in from the edge on the lining piece and stitch (headed towards nearest edge) all around the fabric.  Stopping about a third the way in on the other side of the lining.

 You should have a 3" or so unsewn gap at the top of the lining.

Fold corners into a 45° angle as shown in the picture left. 

Sew a straight line about an inch down all the way across.  Do this on all 4 corners to make the bottom of the bag sit flat.

 Trim the corner to a 1/4" seam allowance.
Turn bag right side out using the gap in the top of the lining.  Once the bag is turned right side out hand stitch the gap in the lining closed.
Push lining inside the the bag and pull handles up.

Ta-Da!  You now have very cute little bags.