Antique Style Purse

This beautiful bag is the ideal accessory to finish off any outfit, and is big enough to fit everything in. It would also make a great project bag so you can take your sewing with you wherever you go. We’ve used the gorgeous Notting Hill range by Gütermann to create a vintage feel, finished perfectly with an antique-style purse clasp.

Essentials

Fabric: Gutermann, Notting Hill collection,
three prints, fat quarter of each; plain, white Wadding, lightweight
Purse frame, sew-in, antique brass
Purse chain, antique brass
Thread, sewing, strong

Dimensions List

25cm x 33cm

Stich a bag

Download the templates and print. Cut two bag pieces from printed fabric and two from wadding. Pin with wrong sides together. Quilt straight lines through both layers at a 45 angle with a 3cm gap between each one. Quilt in the opposite direction to form a square pattern.
Cut two 16cm x 17.5cm rectangles from a second print and two from plain white material. Put in pairs, and sew each one right sides together around the edges, leaving a 5cm gap along the bottom edge. Clip the corners and turn out. Press and turn in the raw edges of the gap. Pin a pocket to the centre of each quilted bag piece and topstitch in place.
Cut two bag pieces from a third print (this will be the lining), plus two 16cm x 17.5cm rectangles from the same fabric and two from plain white. Make the rectangles into pockets as before, and stitch each one to the centre of a bag lining piece.
Pin the bag outers right sides together and stitch around the sides and base from one hinge-mark to the other. Pin the linings right sides together and stitch together in the same way, leaving a 10cm gap along the bottom edge. Create neat corners in both the outer and lining by flattening the side seam against the bottom seam and sewing straight across the resulting point, 3cm from the tip. Trim off any excess fabric.
Slip the bag outer into the lining, right sides together. Pin and stitch the two top edges of the bag together from one hinge-mark to the other. Turn the completed bag out through the gap in the bottom of the lining. Turn in the raw edges of the gap, oversew closed and press the entire bag.
Working on one side at a time, slide the top edge of the mouth of the bag into the groove in a bag frame. Secure the hinged ends first with a few tacking stitches through the holes in the frame. Use a double thickness of strong thread in a coordinating colour to stitch the fabric to the frame, working from the centre out and gathering the fabric if necessary around the curve. To complete, attach a purse chain to the frame.