CONTINUING THE PROJECT…

The next step is to pick some fun fabric to line your purse. Being a former quilter with a huge!!! stash of fabric, I never have a problem finding a great fabric or pair of fabrics to line the flap and body of my purses. Here I have picked 2 different fabrics – the spot for the flap and the crows for the body of the purse.They work well together and coordinate nicely with my hooked piece – plus they are a little funky.

I use freezer paper for my templates for the lining of the purse and for the body of the purse. My template is essentially the same size as my flap itself – in my patterns and kits I provide freezer paper templates that are the exact size necessary for everything to work well together. The reason I LOVE freezer paper as opposed to just pinning a paper template to my fabric is that it can be reused many times and since I have probably made well over 100 purses over the years I have not had to cut out the template over and over – just keep pressing an old one to my fabric. So cut your template out of freezer paper and with the waxed side DOWN (OTHERWISE IT WILL STICK TO THE BACK OF YOUR IRON 🙂 ) press it to the wrong side of your flap lining fabric.

Leave about 1/2 inch all the way around when you are cutting out. I am always looking for ways to save a bit of time so I place my template about half an inch away from the straight edge – just means I do less cutting out. DO NOT REMOVE THE PAPER ONCE YOU ARE DONE CUTTING OUT!

Next, with your iron press the sides and bottom excess fabric over the edge of your template – do not press the top over. This will give you a perfect smoothly rounded lining for your flap. Once done you can remove the freezer paper template and keep it for future purses – it will be the shape of your linen pattern and your lining.

Now, with wrong sides together, pin your lining to your purse flap… I don’t use a lot of pins. I start at the bottom curved “corners” pin each and then work up the sides as it is more important that the curves at the bottom line up well than the top.

Make sure when you are pinning that you curl the edge of the lining fabric over the edge of the folded linen so that it totally covers the linen – as I stitch I pull the edge of the lining right up to the last row of hooking so no linen peeks through. Your lining may be tight across the back of the flap – not a problem! Stitch one side and when you are at the bottom ready to stitch up the second side you can unfold your lining a bit so that it matches up with the last row of hooking but is no longer tight.

With good quality, doubled matching thread, start stitching at the top edge of the hooking… I stitch with the lining facing me and because I am right handed I have my purse with the open end on my right. I make a double stitch at the beginning i.e. pass your needle through the edge of your lining and into the linen and right back up into the same spot on the edge of your fabric 2 times – this will secure the lining well to the purse flap. Then start stitching always bringing your needle up through the edge of your lining, down straight across in between two loops and right back up into the edge of your lining about a loops width away. Make sure the lining covers all the linen and that you are going straight across and all your stitches will be nicely hidden. A good little trick when you are picking your fabric to line your flap is to use one that is the same colour or value as the edge of your hooking.

Continue all the way around the sides and bottom leaving the top open. Once you are done you may press gently from the lining side just to get rid of any wrinkles. Your flap is now ready!… next step is making the body of the purse and strap.