Why Basting Makes Purse Assembly Easier and More Accurate

Yesterday on QUILTsocial, I showed you 3 ways to make pockets and to make the process easier, I used lots of amazing products such as CLOVER 2501 – Silk Pins (Boxed) – 36mm (1³⁄₈″), OMNIGRID Ruler – 6″ x 24″ (15.2 x 61cm), and an OLFA RTY-2/GP5 – Printed Handle Rotary Cutter 45mm. Today is my last post of the week, and it’s time to finish Marion’s new purse. All the pieces of the bag have been made, so all I have to do is sew them together.

In yesterday’s post, I showed you how I basted the linings to the outside pockets. To baste on my sewing machine, I set the length to 4.5mm. This makes stitches close enough to hold things together while also being easy to remove if needed.

Basting pieces together makes them easier to handle, keeps the layers from shifting and eliminates the need for pins that may get in the way later in assembly.

I’ll also baste the side/bottom panel to its lining, with wrong sides together.

Sew in the top zipper

Now, I’ll use CLOVER 2501 – Silk Pins (Boxed) – 36mm (1³⁄₈″) to line up the zipper along the top edge of one of the outside panels of the purse with right sides together. Since it’s curved, I’ll use lots of pins to keep it in place.

Now I’ll use some UNIQUE QUILTING Clever Clips Small – 12 pcs to layer the lining right side down on top of the zipper. I’ll baste these together with a ⅛” seam, and then, if that seam looks good, I’ll sew it with a regular stitch ¼” in from the edge of the zipper.

Topstitch

After sewing the two sides of the zippers with the outside panels and linings, I’ll use my OLISO PRO^TM TG1600 Pro Plus Smart Iron – Tula Pink^TM on a UNIQUE QUILTING Wool Pressing Mat – 18″ x 24″ – Grey to press the seam, and then I’ll topstitch using matching thread.

Baste the outside pockets to the panels

Now I’ll baste the two big outside pockets to the outside pockets. Since there are many layers of fabric and interfacing, I’ll use UNIQUE QUILTING Clever Clips Large – 12pcs to hold everything in place.

Make the strap

I’ll use the same technique I demonstrated in my QUILTsocial post 6 easy steps to making a strong strap with webbing for a crossbody bag on August 12, 2024 to make the strap for Marion’s purse. I’ll cover the CREATIV DÉCOR Webbing 25mm x 1.2m (1″ x 1¹⁄₄yd) – White with the black fabric, and I’ll reuse the rectangular ring and sliding buckle from Marion’s original purse.

Now, I’ll baste the two ends of the strap to the ends of the top zipper.

Sew the three purse panels together

Now I’ll sew the front and back panels to the side/bottom panel. There are three layers of interfacing and at least four layers of fabric at some points along this seam, so you can see why basting the separate sections together first was essential. If I hadn’t done that, this part of the assembly would be ‘impossible’. I’ll use the large clips again to keep everything lined up.

Cover the seams with bias tape

My inside seams are a little messy. I had initially thought that I would just clip them about ¼” wide and then just zig-zag over them, but the bias tape that I removed from the original bag is in excellent condition and looks like it will cover the seams quite nicely.

I’ll sew one side down, right sides together with the lining, and then I’ll fold it over to the other side and topstitch. With all these layers, this isn’t an easy task, but it turned out ok.

Turn the right side out

Now, I’ll turn the purse right side out by pulling the bag through the top zipper. I’ll push out the edges to make the corners nice, and the last little job I’ll do is sew some fun polka dot ribbon onto the zipper pulls. Here’s the finished purse.

I’m so happy with this finished purse, and I think Marion will be amazed at how much it looks like her original! Now that I have a pattern, I can make this purse again. I need to add some new zippers and hardware, and I could try out some different fabric combinations!

The products that I used to sew this purse made the job so easy. Still, then again, I use my CLOVER 2501 – Silk Pins (Boxed) – 36mm (1³⁄₈″), OMNIGRID Ruler – 6″ x 24″ (15.2 x 61cm), OLFA RM-MG – 24″ x 36″ Double Sided Rotary Mat, OLFA RTY-2/GP5 – Printed Handle Rotary Cutter 45mm, UNIQUE QUILTING Clever Clips Small – 12 pcs and OLISO PRO^TM TG1600 Pro Plus Smart Iron – Tula Pink^TM for almost every project I make. The BOSAL In-R-Form Unique Sew-In Foam Stabilizer – 45.7 x 147.3 cm (18″ x 58″) gave the purse great structure without being impossible to sew through, and the SEW EASY Freezer Paper for Quilting and Applique – 12.1m x 38.1cm (13.2yd x 15) made great, reusable pattern pieces.

I hope you enjoyed following along as I made this beautiful purse. See you next time on QUILTsocial!

This is part 5 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 4: 3 Ways to Sew Pockets for a Quilted Purse