The Alex Bag

Hello Everyone!

Winter is finally coming to an end here in Australia, even if it is still a bit cool here in Melbourne, spring is here.

I have designed this cross body bag for my daughter’s best friend Alex, she will be 18 in a couple of weeks and wanted a roomy cross body bag in red velvet for her birthday. It measures 9″ x 13″ x 4″ excluding the strap. I have made the strap, zipper panel and the edges on the double welt pocket in dark brown pleather. The front of the bag has a pocket across the bag that’s divided into two sections.

On the back of the bag is the zippered double welt pocket.

The zipper panel is recessed and have zipper tabs in both ends.

The lining of the bag is made of quilting cotton and has one pocket with a zipper and one without.

Usually I use iron on interfacing and iron on fleece, which doesn’t work very well with the velvet since it will melt. So I used 1/8″ thick felt as interlining, it worked very well.

Until next time, happy sewing and take care!

Annika

Velvet Clutch/Handbag

Hello Everyone,

I am going to make a hand bag for my daughter’s best friend’s 18th birthday. She wants a bag made out of velvet so I decided to make a  smaller test project to see how it is to work with. I made a larger clutch/handbag with a detachable chain. It measures 11″ x  8″ and I boxed the bottom corners just 1 inch.

It is made like a large zipper pouch, just like this coin purse that you can find on my tutorials page or here. The pieces are bigger and I added pockets to the lining pieces. I also added two tabs with D-rings in the lining side seams to attach the chain. It is important that it is a little opening on each end of the zipper ends for the chain to go through.

When I boxed the corners I sewed the lining and outside bag corners together. That is a great way to keep the lining in place.

The velvet I used is quite thin so I ironed on thin batting. It is important to use a tea towel or similar to protect both batting, velvet and the iron. I used a light weight fusible woven interfacing on the lining. This worked very well for this project.

Considering it is a  test project I think it turned out very well. My daughter said she wanted to use the bag on Saturday night. That is a big compliment to me!

Happy sewing and take care!

Annika