Auntie Nic's birthday present

Ok so I'm going through this insain handbag thing at the moment and after taking the handmade pledge, I have given away 3 in the last 2 weeks. I found this tut and loved the idea but cut out a step or two by making the outside fabric and lining in just two pieces of fabric instead of four.

I also only had two handles and needed more for another bag I made, so I made some little straps out of the cream fabric and attatched them with D rings. (much easier to turn through!)

So basically I cut out a piece of the cream fabric in a long strip twice the length I wanted the bag to be. I cut about 3 or 4 inches off one end and stitched in a piece of fancy fabric for the strip.

I then cut out the lining and a piece of interfacing the same size as my finished front. I made the handles in the same way as the tut I mentioned, then I layed down the interfacing (you could use iron on, but I have sew in in my stash), then place the front strip right side up.

I then pinned the handle straps in on both ends.

I then placed the liner on top of everything and stitched just the ends with the handles. So you should have a big circle with the handles on the ends.

Next I slid the bag in half so that the handles are in the middle and matched the seams I'd just sewn. You should have the bag front still inside out at one end and the liner at the other end. Like the picture number 10 in the tutorial.

I then pinned the side seams making sure the seams from the ends are finger pressed and pinned towards the bag front. This is very important, if you don't do this your lining won't sit nice and flat inside. At this point I also put in a magnetic clasp.

I then stitched straight up one side and then down the other, leaving a two or three inch gap on the lining half for turning.

I turned it in the right way, pressed it and viola was done.

I'm not an expert stitcher and this seriously took 10 minutes to do. (except for the half an hour half way through when little mister wanted mummy)

I took the handmade pledge seriously and used a few of the gorgeous paintings my girls had done at day care and taped them together for wrapping paper.

Please let me know what you think of my description, is it clear enough? I'm thinking about writing a tutorial or two and hope I'm explaining myself properly.