Leftovers Handbag

~Leftovers Handbag ~

 I had some fabric left over from the last project and decided I would try to make a simple handbag from what I could find around the house. 

 I found this blouse that I never wear because there is too much "poof" to it. So I cut the center "ruffle" off and decided to use it as the decoration on the front of the handbag.

 I took the left over material, folded it in half, and folded the top hem over about 1/4 In. then about an inch. I used my fingernail to make the fabric fold more precisely (like you would with folding and creasing paper) It worked pretty good with this fabric.

 Then I pinned it on the ends just to make it stay. 

 At this point I realized I had too much fabric for what I wanted to do. The bag would be way too wide. So I cut some off of the side. (No big deal, we just adjust to needed changes and move on)

 Then I sewed the sides of the bag together. (leave the hem still just pinned)

I folded the bag so that the sides made triangles...

 ...pinned them about 3/4 In. from the point...

 ...and sewed across the corner. This made a nice square corner that I didn't need to renforce) 

 I then pinned the ruffle in the middle of the front,

 making sure to sew it under the hem. This way the stitches can't be seen once the hem is in place. 

 I wanted this bag to have no stitching showing on the outside, so I glued the edge of the hem down. 

(I used Gorilla glue, but I'm sure fabric glue would have sufficed) 

 I then glued the ruffle to the front of the bag by spreading glue with a Q-tip on the edges of the ruffle. (I used a shoe box cover to keep the bag from gluing together)

 I wrapped the ruffle down and around the bag, gluing as I went. 

 On the back I sewed the end of the ruffle over and then glued it in place. 

 Like so...

Rhuarc approves so far, but he REALLY needs to pee and I need to go get a handle for this bag.

So we will return with the rest of this handbag later :)

Ok we're back and we got the handle (SHOULD have bought it when I saw it. It took forever to find where they relocated these) I sewed the little loops on the hem. Not sewing through to the front.

 Then I hooked the beaded handle to the loops (it came this way)

 Wa-lah!

Kinda sassy for a bunch of leftovers.
Sure beats second day meatloaf :)