Introducing the quick-and-easy Purse Pouch! It's a way to keep your things organized within a larger bag, or this cute little satchel could even be used as a fancy gift bag for a special friend. My daughter likes to use them as little purses, and she just loops the drawstring ribbons over her wrist to carry it around. Whatever you choose to use it for, it's a fun and useful way to use extra fabric scraps.
To start, you'll need 2 coordinating fabrics, a bit of 1" or wider ribbon, and about a yard of narrow ribbon.
The bags can be made any size or proportion, just be sure to take into account the seam allowances and the "ruffle" area at top of bag. The important thing to remember is to cut the lining and the outer fabric to the exact same size, so they'll fit together nicely.
1) In this example, I cut 2 rectangles measuring 7 1/2" x 10 1/2" out of each fabric (so 4 rectangles total).
2) Placing the fabrics right sides together (ie. red facing red, blue facing blue), sew around bottom and both sides of the two separate bags using a 1/4" seam allowance. Leave the top open.
3) If you don't want pointy corners in the bottom of the bag, you can do the following OPTIONAL steps to square off the corners:
At one of the corners, take the front and back of bag and pull apart, flattening the fabric into a triangle and making sure the seam is in the exact center of the triangle, as seen in photo at left.
4) Stitch a line perpendicular to original seam, backstitching at beginning and end of the new line of stitching.
Repeat procedure on other three corners of the bags, so they are all stitched the same way and the same distance from the tips of the triangular pointy corners.
5) Now you will have two separate bags with squared-off corners. Decide which bag will be on the outside, and turn that bag right side out.
Leave the liner bag inside out as shown.
6) Slip the liner bag over the bag that will be on the outside when completed (in this case, slip the red liner bag over the blue bag). Make sure that the right sides of the fabrics are facing eachother.
Pin bags together at side seams.
7) Stitch liner and outer bags together all along top edge.
8) Using a seam ripper, rip out about 1 1/2" of bottom seam of the liner (red) fabric. You could also just leave a gap in the original seam, but this is just as easy for me.
Sticking your fingers into the hole, gently pull the outer (blue) fabric out so that it is right side out, and so is the red liner.
9) Close the hole in the liner by either slipstitching it by hand or sewing it closed with a machine, making sure the seam is very close to edge.
10) Tuck liner inside the (blue) bag. The edge where the two fabrics meet won't be very cleanly defined, so you'll need to press it carefully at the top seam, so it will end up looking like this:
11) Position the bag under the sewing machine presserfoot. Turn under about 3/8" of the ribbon end, and place it at the side seam of the bag about 2" below top edge of bag.
Make sure that the raw end of the ribbon is tucked exactly beneath the top of the ribbon, so none of the raw edge will be seen from the top.
Stitch the top edge of the ribbon, taking care to make sure the distance between the ribbon and the top of the bag is equal.
Stop stitching before you get the the other side seam.
12) Cut the ribbon off about 3/8" beyond the side seam.
13) Turn end of ribbon under so that it aligns with side seam. Stitch to end of ribbon.
14) Using the same methods, attach the ribbon to the second side of bag the same way. Backstitch over ribbons at each side seam for extra reinforcement.
15) Repeat stitching for bottom edge of ribbon. You will now essentially have a decorative and functional casing that is open at both side seams.
16) Attach a safety pin to the end of the narrow ribbon and draw it through, all the way around the bag. Don't pull it through the opening opposite the entry point - make the ribbon come full circle, as seen below:
17) Leave desired amount of ribbon trailing out of casing. Tie off to create a loop; trim ribbon ends and treat with Stop-Fray or heat seal with open flame.
18) Now, starting at opposite end of the casing, repeat procedure with safety pin and ribbon. You will now have 2 separate ribbon loops, each with their own entrance point in casing.
Simply pull on the ribbons to tighten, and your bag is finished!
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