Pretty Lady Purses

I tell you, this printing onto fabric is going to cost me a fortune in ink cartridges, but its such good fun! You can have whatever you like, although you're obviously limited to A4 size.

A4 size however is perfect for making a purse.

I spend a fair amount of time trawling eBay for purse frames and although you have to wait a couple of weeks for them to arrive from Hong Kong, the choice and price is really good. This was a 4 inch sew in frame and cost about £3 including postage. I've made purses similar to this before, but with a glue in frame, but I'm never 100% confident that the glue will hold and when you're selling something, you need to be sure.

I made the fabric by scattering a load of card toppers over the printer, (with a couple strategically placed) to get the design I wanted. Then iron some freezer paper onto the fabric, cut to size and print away. Give it a quick iron to set the picture.

I then ironed interfacing onto the back and cut it to shape. For this purse, I cut a square 21cm x 21cm, but in retrospect I could have done with making it a bit deeper so probably 21cm x 24cm will fair you a lot better!
You also want to cut a square of felt and a square of lining material all the same size.

So, take your main fabric, fold in half, right sides facing, and sew up the sides. then poke out the corners, flatten them down and draw a line across 3cm from the point to box out the base. Sew across this line and trim off the excess.

Turn the right way round.

Then, place the felt on top of the lining material and repeat the same process, but don't turn out as you then want to pop the outer part of the purse inside the lining. Match up the side seams and pin all the way around.
Sew around the top, leaving a reasonable gap for turning out.

Turn the right way round and press around the top with your open edges folded inwards. I then just top stitched around the entire top which closes the gap.
After that, all that's left to do is to sew it onto your frame. I say all. This is probably the trickiest bit and your fingers will feel it for the following day. You'll need a pretty hefty needle and some embroidery thread. on the first side, centre up the frame and sew in place. then tuck in the sides so they are on the inside of the frames downwards sides and sew the other side.

Sometimes I find that you have to twist the frame slightly to get it to snap tightly shut, but that's it. And if you've printed off your own fabric, then its a total one off too!