Purse with Patchwork Inset

I've been making a lot of bags lately, and I wanted to make one that would show off the pretty new fabric I just bought. For this project, you'll need swatches of fabric for the patchwork (I used eight 4" squares but you could adjust this depending how you want your patchwork to look). You'll also need about half a yard of your coordinating fabric (I used plain, black cotton) and half a yard of lining. 

These are the pretty fat quarters that inspired this project:

 

I started by cutting a bunch of 4" squares from the fat quarters and then lining up squares until I found a pattern I liked. I lined them up right on my black fabric so that I could see how the finished bag would look.

The next step is to attach the panels to make a strip of patchwork. Attach the panels to each other on their sides and press the seams open. For this purse I did two panels with four squares on each, which made two strips that were 4" tall and 14" wide.

Now lets cut out the plain fabric. I used black because I thought it would make my patchwork really stand out. My patchwork strips were 14" wide, so all my black fabric pieces are also 14" wide. I cut one 14" x 15" piece and two pieces that were 14" x 3". Attach the patchwork strips along the 14" edges of the big piece, then attach the two long, skinny pieces to the other side of the patchwork. If your fabric needs to be placed in a certain way to look right, note that the edges of the patchwork that are attached to the 14" x 3" panels will be the top edges of the bag. Sew all the pieces together and press the seams flat. 

Make the handles in the same way as the tote bag in my first post (two strips 20" x 4" folded in half lengthwise; sew down the long edge; turn rightside out; topstitch both edges).

Now fold the purse body right sides in and sew up the sides. Cut the lining to the same size and sew up the sides. 

Insert the purse outside into the lining, wrong sides together. For the bottom corners, mark 2" from the bottom and the side of each corner and connect these two marks to make a triangle. Sew along the edge of the triangle and trim close to the stitching, as shown in the picture below. Do this on both sides.

Turn the purse rightside out - I love this part because you can see what the finished project will look like!

Now carefully fold both the lining and the outside fabric in about half an inch and press. Insert the handles where you want them to be (I measured 3" from the side seams to place my handles). Make sure the handles match on both sides and pin them in place. Make sure the lining is folded slightly more than the outside so the lining won't peak out when you're done.

Topstitch around  the top of the bag. I topstitched twice around for extra stability.

And you're done! This project was really quick, and I think I'll be inserting patchwork panels into other projects when I have little bits of pretty fabric to use.

Thanks for reading!
Cate