Round Nautical Purse DIY

I saw this purse on the Forever21 website and decided that I could do that. So without going to the store to purchase a single thing I made this as my birthday gift to myself.




What you'll need:

Canvas material
Scissors
Straight pins
Marking Tools
Nautical Applique (I made mine last night with felt and eyebeads)
Zipper
A long chain




First you're going to want to make your pattern. I traced a circle that was approx the size I wanted my purse to be and used that as my foundation. I wont lie to you- making the pattern is the uphill part of this project once you finish that its easy.




To discover how long you'll need your side pannel to be mark a spot on your circle and roll your circle up a long piece of paper. Once you reach that same spot again mark another knotch. Cut out that piece with a 3.5 inch width.





Place your zipper on the piece you just cut out and cut off at that point.



Take the piece that you cut to the size of your zipper and make another pattern piece that same size but an inch wider. So it should be 4.5 inches wide by however long your zipper is. Note: my zipper was 9 inches long.



Fold that piece in half and cut directly down the center. Note you'll only need one piece of this.



So if there is any confusion at what you will have for pattern pieces here they are:




Whew! Whipe the sweat from your brow because the hard part is so over. Everything should move pretty fast from this point on.

First decide which piece is going to be your front piece and attatch your applique to the center of that.



Next you're going to take your two pieces for your zipper. There are tons of ways to sew a zipper on and it seems everyone has their own way of doing it. What I did to make this super easy was sew my two pieces together using a basting stitch. I then ironed my seams open and placed my zipper on top of the seams. I sewed it down and seam ripped the the seam open so my zipper was revealed. This was way fast and super easy. (if you're at all confused by this I recommend checking out the whitney sews video for her t-shirt dress as she uses the same technique in that video)



Next take your long piece and pin and sew the right ends together to your zipper piece. I also recommend you press open your seams and sew those down.





Your piece should look something more or less like this.



Next pin and sew the front piece of your circle to the side pannel.



Next open up your zipper and pin and sew the second side to your purse. Note: everything should be inside out while you are doing this. Right sides all should face together.





Because I'm not using a serger and I really didn't want the inside of my purse to be like the inside of the pumpkin I went back over my seams with a zig-zag stitch to help prevent fraying.

Turn your purse right side out and on either side of your zipper sew your chain for straps.



Voila!



In hindsight I kind of wish I had used an interfacing when making this. The canvas holds its shape fairly well on its own but interfacing would have really helped. If you aren't going to use canvas I strongly suggest you use interfacing on yours.