Little Girl Purse - Tutorial

First off, with the exception of one high school home ec class, and all good faith efforts by my mom, I am for the most part a self-taught seamstress. I read a lot on the internet, and made a lot of mistakes. The seam ripper is my bestest friend. Now... On to my first tutorial.

I'm using pre-quilted fabric, nylon webbing for the strap, iron-on velcro, thread, and letter beads. That's about it. Oh, and the pink rick-rack.

The first thing about this 'pattern' is that it is very flexible. In fact, I rarely measure, but did for this tutorial. The piece I'm using is 18.5" long and 8.5" wide. You could use smaller or larger, whatevery your heart desires. We're using the stripe as the outside, and the green as the interior, but it could go the other way as well.

On one of the short sides, fold approximately 1/4" in and press.
Trim if necessary (like if some of the batting's sticking out), and sew using a zig-zag stitch right at the edge. Fold up so the inside is out. I eyeball it - this one happens to be folded 6 1/2" up. Whatever looks right, depending on how long you want the flap to fold over. Stitch with a 1/4" seam, then zig-zag the raw edge, going up to the top of the fold.
If you have a fancy-pants serger, you can use that. I don't.
Turn right side out and press. Fold the edges of the flap in and press. Trim the excess, leaving 1/4". Zig-zag down.

Fold the top of the flap over 1/4" and press. Zig-Zag down.
This is the slightly tricky part, and if there's a better way. Let me know. Measure off 36" of webbing and pin where you want the handles. I tried putting them on the inside, but then it closed awkwardly so I just put them on the outside back.
Stitch on. I stitch around in a square, going back and zig-zagging along the raw edge.
Trim any loose threads. I like to press down the flap prior to ironing on the velcro. Iron on the velcro, and then sew on letter beads if you'd like. As soon as I find my Tacky Glue, I'm going to glue the rick-rack down over the raw edge on the flap.
Easy-Peasy.

Let me know if you have any questions, or see a better way to do it.

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