Simplicity 1802 View C with African Fabric

I decided to make this one a slideshow tutorial rather than pasting tons of pictures in a row. If this doesn't workout next time I'll have to go back to the regular pasting. I hope this helps someone especially with the steps that confused me.

African Inspired Placemat Purse Tutorial

Materials used: 1 full placemat, 1.5" cut of another placemat to use for handle, 2 fat quarters 18x21" for the lining, about 10x12" piece of fabric for your flap cover (basically needs to be wide enough to span the width of the bag and long enough to flap over opening and part way down the purse and heavy Pellon interface that same size. You'll also need a closure piece. I used magnetic snaps. 

This placemat is a plastic material that have a woven feel to it. It came 4 in the pack and that allowed me to use one of the for the handle.

Fold in half and sew with half inch seams. I used my heavy duty needle and had the stitch length at 3 just like I'd normally do with leather like material. After you've got a flat pouch, square the bottom for about 2 inches. To square the bottom of the bag, you simply create a triangle with base that is 2 times the height.

  Before folding and sewing the right sides of the lining together, you'll want to make your pocket. At this point I also put my label.

 Sew the sides of the lining and square the bottom with the exact same dimensions as the outer bag. This is where I made a mistake. I should have made my lining and additional .5 inch so that when I flipped things out, it would sit on the bottom. Because the placemat is stiffer, I wanted to use the lining also as a basting to purse opening. To avoid scratches and to frame the purse. Before sewing that tho, I had to install the magnetic clasp to the flap and the body of the purse.

with the pieces of the flap put together (basically iron the facing to the covering fabric, install the snap to the lining and sew the lining to the front piece as seen below.

 Without sewing yet, pin the flap to the purse and fold over to mark where you want the snap to close. Once you've determine where your snaps will be, leave some pins as markers for when you're ready to sew the flap on.

 Sew the flap snipping off a triangle a the back end of each said. Flip inside out and steam iron into shape.

Now you can sew your lining  and flip around. I prefer to leave the opening at the top and just sew around the edge to hide my opening.

Completed lined purse bottom. This little bit used as a faux bias for the mouth of the purse ends up with the lining sitting higher in the purse. If I'd made the lining longer, it would have sat on the bottom.

 Realign the purse flap to the pin markers you had and sew in place.

I chose to put a bias on the placemat piece for the handle so that the handle would stand out.

 Sew down the handle to the purse and you're done.

Final product. The matching dress blog is coming up. 

Placemat Purse Tutorial with Band Strap Closure

I got this two sided vegan leather (pleather) placemat from Pier1 and couldn't wait to delve in. I'd already made another placemat purse and had lots of ideas about this one when I took it from the clearance shelf. Sorry I'm missing some pictures but will try my best to explain the missing steps. I'm new at this.

Placemat from Pier1

It was too thick to work with so I decided to split it apart to get two for one out of the deal. I ended up with a taupe and a cream half mat.

Split in two

I cut out my lining out of quilter block. The ones that are 18"x21". I like those because they are perfect for placemat purses. I chose an abstract print to go with my modern feel I wanted for the clutch. Using the placemat as a guide, I measured the lining with a quarter inch all around the placemat. I then ironed under the seam. I also made a pocket and used a piece of the pleather fabric to be used for the band as a binding to the pocket. I used fabric glue to attach the lining to the flat of the placemat. Then I folded the placemat about 2/3 of the full length of the placemat to form the clutch and held it in place with the clips. I then sewed along the sides of the placemat. 

I'm really sorry I missed the picture for this. Maybe I should make another purse like this one with the missing steps. Anywho, I cut out a strip (3 inches?) of the pleather fabric (it had like a fleece backing to it making it quite squishy), and then I folded it on itself to make the band. I sewed only a couple of line because I wanted to give it texture, but not make it look completely quilted. I turned down the corners to give the flap a tapered look. I just glued it to the lining on the underside.

Almost done

 It was looking pretty plain to me so I decided to use my new Martha Stewart hold punch to make the holes and then laced thru strips of the pleather through the holes for this final look.

 This was the final look. I promise to do better with the tutorial. But hopefully you got something out of it.