Sew Cute to Carry: 12 stylish bag patterns for handbags, purses & totes

By Melanie McNeice

Indulge your love of stylish handcrafted bags with this crafting guide featuring twelve easy-to-make sewing patterns for totes, handbags, and more! 

You can never have too many bags and this collection from Melly McNeice is the perfect inspiration to make a few more! SewCutetoCarryis packed with bag designs for all occasions—including totes, clutch bags and handbags, as well as more practical items like the ‘sleepover’ bag, back pack and ubiquitous nappy changing bag.

All the patterns have step-by-step diagrams for easy piecing. There’s also a general techniques section explaining the tools and equipment you’ll need to get started.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: May 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781446364154

Melanie McNeice

Melanie McNeice launched her successful design label "Melly & Me" in 2006. Based in Australia, she designs fun, bright bags and soft toys and sells her sewing patterns worldwide. The Melly & Me look is all about mix and match fabrics, modern colour palettes and clean, fluid lines.

Book preview

BEAUTIFUL BLOOMS HANDBAG

This fabulously floral handbag will sit perfectly on your arm. While it is compact, it still has plenty of room for your wallet, phone and all the other daily necessities. A handy outer pocket is perfect for those essential quick-reach items. It's so practical and pretty, you won’t be able to resist!

SKILL RATING:

You will need

28cm (11in) blue fabric for main bag

28cm (11in) blue lining fabric

20cm (8in) pink fabric for pocket and side panels

15cm (6in) mustard fabric for handles and pocket top

1 fat quarter (18 × 22in) coral fabric to make piping (or 2m (2¹⁄4yd) bias tape)

75cm (30in) lightweight fusible fleece

2m (2¹⁄4yd) white cord to make piping

25cm (10in) of 1cm (³⁄8in) white elastic

Magnetic closure

Finished size: 37 × 35.5cm (14¹⁄2 × 14in) including handles

Cutting

Trace all of the Beautiful Blooms Handbag templates (see Pattern Pullout Sheet) onto tracing paper or template plastic, transferring all the markings and cutting them out around the traced lines.

From the main blue fabric, trace the main bag template twice and cut out along the traced lines.

From the blue lining fabric, trace the main bag template twice and cut out along the traced lines. Now trace the side panel template twice onto the remaining lining fabric and cut out along the traced lines.

From the pink fabric, trace the side panel template twice and cut out along the traced lines. Trace the pocket template twice onto the remaining fabric and cut out along the traced lines.

From the mustard fabric, cut two strips measuring 4.5 × 24cm (1³⁄4 × 9¹⁄2in) for the pocket top. Cut four strips measuring 5 × 42cm (2 × 16¹⁄2in) for the handles.

From the coral fabric, cut three 3cm (1¹⁄4in) strips on the bias, each measuring 56cm (22in) in length.

From the lightweight fusible fleece, trace the main bag template twice onto the folded fleece and cut out along the traced lines to make four pieces. Next trace the side panel template twice onto the folded fleece and cut out along the traced lines to make four pieces. Cut four strips measuring 5 × 42cm (2 × 16¹⁄2in) for the handles and set the rest aside.

Preparation

Take the main bag, lining, handle strip and your two pink side panel pieces and interface them all with your matching lightweight fusible fleece pieces. Take the two remaining side panel fleece pieces and shorten the top edges only by 1cm (³⁄8in). Use these to interface your lining side panel pieces.

Create three lengths of piping with the coral fabric bias strips and white cord (see Creating Piping).

TRY THIS!

Like more pockets? Why not whip up one or two more to sew onto your bag lining to create convenient internal pockets?

Construction

5mm (¹⁄4in) seam allowance included.

Take one of the pink pocket pieces and one of the mustard pocket top strips. Place these right sides together along the pocket top edge and sew in place. Press the seam to the pocket side then interface with the remaining fusible fleece. Topstitch along the pink pocket side of the seam only (see Useful Stitches). Sew the pocket lining and top strip together in the same way, but do not interface.

Take one of the lengths of piping and tack (baste) it along the raw pink edge of the interfaced pocket front piece only (see Useful Stitches). The raw edge of the piping should lie against the raw edge of the pocket fabric and the piping should taper away from the pocket just below the seam. Trim the ends neatly.

Place the pocket and pocket lining pieces right sides together and sew these together along all three edges of the mustard top strip only. Snip the corners and turn right side out. Topstitch the centre 16.5cm (6¹⁄2in) of the top strip seam to create an elastic casing.

Now thread the white elastic through the elastic casing you just created in the pocket top. You can access this in-between the pocket and pocket lining layers. Sew a line of topstitching to secure the elastic at one end of the casing.

Pull the elastic through the remaining open end of the casing to create a nice gathering. The pocket top should now measure approximately 18cm (7in) in width. Secure the elastic at this end of the casing to create the elasticized pocket top. Trim any excess elastic from both sides of the casing.

To insert elastic with ease, simply attach a safety pin to one end and use it to manoeuvre and guide the elastic through the casing.

Turn the pocket inside out again and tack (baste) the pocket and lining together all the way around the remaining raw edges with the piping between. Sew in place with the zipper foot as close to the piping as possible, leaving a 7.5cm (3in) gap along the bottom pocket edge for turning. Turn the pocket right side out and press, making sure that the turning gap is neatly folded in place. Position the pocket onto the bag front piece so that it is centred within the width and approximately 5cm (2in) down from the bag top edge. Now topstitch in place along the side and bottom