How to Sew a Quilted Purse

A quilted purse can be sewn in the same way as any purse, but the lining and outside fabric are quilted with a layer of batting in the middle before the pattern pieces are sewn together. For this design, the rectangular front and back pieces are machine-quilted separately, sewn together and then the exposed seams are bound with straight-grain or bias binding. The dimensions can be adjusted easily and customized with your choice of bought or made handles.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 1/2 yard decorative outer fabric
• 1/2 yard lining fabric
• 9 feet bias binding, or cut from fabric
• Batting
• Sewing machine or needle
• Thread
• Tailors' chalk
• Tape measure
• Scissors
• Bag handles to fit (optional)

1. Cut two rectangles each of your outer and lining fabric measuring 14 inches horizontally by 18 inches vertically for the front and back of the purse. Press all the pieces, then draw your quilting design on the right sides of the outer fabric pieces. You can use a quilting template, follow the pattern on the fabric, draw freehand designs or simple, straight lines depending on the look you want.

2. Take each lining piece and place right side down. Cut a piece of batting a few inches wider and longer than the fabric piece and place it over the lining. Place the outside fabric on top of the batting with the right side up, aligning the corners of the lining and outer fabric rectangles, then baste the two sandwiched pieces: starting in the middle, hand sew long (around 1 inch) stitches in contrasting thread through both layers of fabric and batting over the surface of the pieces.

3. Starting in the middle and working outwards, machine quilt the pieces by sewing along the chalk lines of your design through all layers of fabric and batting, using a walking foot on your machine. When all the pieces are quilted, trim the excess batting from the edges of the pieces, and unpick the basting stitches.

4. Align the right sides of the front and back together, and sew along both sides and the bottom, leaving a ¼ inch seam allowance.

5. If you haven't purchased bias binding, cut and sew together about 9 feet of 1 inch wide straight or bias strips from the outer fabric or a contrasting fabric of your choice. Pin and sew the binding over the raw edges of each seam, keeping the stitches within the bag's outside seams so they are not visible from the outside of the bag when it is finished.

6. Fold the top seams of the bag towards the wrong side by 1 inch, fold over again, pin and sew along the bottom of the fold in the seam. Turn the bag inside out so that the right sides are out and the bound seams are inside the purse.

7. If using purchased handles, sew them to the top or inside of the bag, depending on the type of handles. Otherwise, make fabric handles your desired length by sewing long rectangles of fabric along three sides with the right sides together, turn inside out, and sew the open seam closed. Hand stitch the handles to the inside of the bag, positioning them as desired and stitching through the lining, but not the outer fabric.

Tips & Warnings

• It is easier to machine sew quilting designs that consist mainly of straight lines. You can make the bag with a gusset piece by simply sewing an additional quilted rectangle between the front and back rectangles.