There and Back Again Book Purse, part 2: lining and final assembly

We left off last week with the finished purse handles and cover ready for assembly.  This week we'll be concentrating on the lining and putting the entire thing together.  Check out part 1 to see how I made the handles and designed the cover. I'm using the directions from Juliacy's Book Purse DIY video for most of the instructions here.  

Supplies:

approx .5 yards of fabric

poster board or light cardboard

ribbon

Duct tape

ribbon

needle and thread/sewing machine

Hot glue and glue sticks

Book purse handles

Painted book cover

Magnetic closure, filched from an old purse

Ruler 

Most of these materials I already had around.  Overall, I've spent less than 10.00 (US) on them.  

Pattern making

Now it's time to set the opening.  It needs to be wide enough to get a hand in there, but not so wide that stuff falls out of it when you are fishing for your keys.  I found about 6 inches (15 cm) should do the trick.  

I placed my book on my poster board and traced the shape of my book.  This wasn't as accurate as I
'd have liked.  In the future, I'll take the time to measure out and mark it out.  If the cardboard is thicker, score with the craft knife to make folding easier.  The cut mark will be on the outside.  

Make 2 trapezoid shapes and fold them in half.  Trim up so that they're symmetrical and set aside. 

Measure and cut a long rectangle to fit inside the spine.  

The Return of Mano the Sewing Machine

I ripped the seams from the dress until I had enough fabric to work with and placed my cardboard pieces on the fabric.  My fabric has very little stretch, so I added about 1/4 " seam allowance.  If the fabric you use is stretchy, you may not have to do this.  I traced the trapezoids, leaving the seam allowance and a little bit of extra room at the smallest end to act as a tab when I glued the whole thing together.  The cardboard is going to fit inside the fabric, so I needed 4 trapezoid shapes and 2 rectangle shapes as well as one large cover piece.

I took everything over to Mano and sewed them up, right sides together before I turned them inside out.  I should have ironed them to give them a neater appearance.  The cardboard does make the step mostly optional, but it does make a difference.  I slid the poster board in, folded the trapezoids, and stitched a line at the fold.

I folded the edge of the largest piece of fabric over and sewed that down.  I didn't do an actual hem here because it was going to be covered in glue and I didn't want that bulk towards the bottom.

Attaching the Handles and button

My original idea had a button and loop closure but changed my mind for a more secure magnetic clasp.  Since I had to drill holes in my book to attach the button, I left it there for a little extra detail.  

I cut 2 long pieces of ribbon that stretched beyond the length of the book cover.  I glued that down and then slid the purse handles on to the ribbon and glued down the ends of the ribbon.  Because I'm just a little paranoid, I then taped down each of the strips with several vertical strips that ended up covering most of the white portion of the cover.

Gluing the lining into place

While waiting for my hot glue gun to warm up, I did a test run with my spine reinforcement and sides so I could see how they all fit together.  I glued down the trapezoid flaps first and then the rectangular reinforcment on top of them.  Once they were dry, I glued the right side of the trapezoid to the book cover.  I glued the other trapezoid down in the same way, leaving one half of the book cover untouched for now.  

I began gluing down the large piece of fabric before finishing gluing the sides so I'd have more room to work.  I worked slowly, concentrating on where my edges met.  Once I got to the spine, I finished gluing the sides and then the rest of the lining.  

When finishing gluing the trapezoids in, remember to fold them in towards the middle of the purse while you glue.  It'll help it keep its shape a little better.

WOOHOO!  It's a purse!  (and adding the clasp)

I hot glued the magnetic clasp in by gluing one side, putting the clasp together, adding more glue, and then shutting the purse on the finding to make sure I got the alignment right.  

I love this purse!  It's the perfect size to take on a night out or when I don't want to take a lot of stuff with me.  I can put my wallet, keys, and cellphone in there with just enough room for some lipstick and some chapstick for Ben (he hates melty chapstick, so he generally hands it off to me to keep) It's one of those projects that I have to show EVERYBODY!  This turned out so pretty in the end.