Striped handbag with lots of details

This project was made as part of a Craftsy course:
Design Your Own Handbag »

Materials

Upholstery fabric for outside (striped); silk for inside (yellow); woven/fusible interfacing; interlining; double fold bias tape (black); bias tape piping (black); gross grain ribbon (black); flat screw-on rings (nickel); bag feet (nickel); corrugated plastic for bottom of bag

What was your inspiration?

I usually rush my sewing projects. For this bag, I promised myself to take the time to really think about the design and make it a special bag. With all the details I added, it ended up taking a long time to create, but I am happy with the final result.

What are you most proud of?

To create a professional look for the straps, I created jetted pocket openings through which I pulled the lower parts of the tabs.

What advice would you give someone starting this project?

* take your time and don't rush the process

* do not use silk for the lining, especially if this is your first bag; it was difficult to work with

* since I wanted to make this bag very sturdy, I added two layers of interfacing and one layer of interlining to the outside fabric as well as one layer of interfacing to the inside fabric

* due to the thickness of the final bag, I choose to use black double-fold bias tape to finish off the top of the bag instead of creating a super thick layer of seam allowance by sewing the thick layers together

* the other advantage of using bias tape to finish off the top of the bag is that I could attach the corrugated plastic bottom and bag feet before the lining was sewn into the bag, which made that process easier; and I could sew the bottom of the lining closed before inserting the lining into the bag

* for the hardware, I used flat screw on rings that I found at Etsy's "Purse Supplies R Us" seller; it is much easier to work with the straps if you use rings that can be attached at the very end (due to the screw on feature)

* I purchased the corrugated plastic at a local Home Depot store; you can find it wherever they sell signs; once I cut it to size, I snipped (a very small snip) the sharp four corners at a 45 degree angle to prevent the sharp edges to eventually come through the fabric;

HAVE FUN!