I made myself a little zipper purse quite a while ago from a fat quarter and the outcome I am going to share with you. It is suitable for beginners, there are no really difficult steps, pretty much straight forward. It could be a lovely little gift for someone little or big, a treat for yourself or just to find use of all these little cotton left over fabrics.

First cut all the pieces you need.

Prepare your Zipper

Iron on the vlies on the patterned fabric and round up the corners on one side of the 15x25cm pieces, I used a cup to mark the corners evenly. The other 2 corners stay sharp.

Sew the Zipper on to the 7x12cm patterned fabrics

It should look like that

Sew lining on the zipper like; patterned fabric – zipper – lining

A sandwich like that

Secure the seam with a straight stitch

Now follow the same steps on the other side of the zipper

Should look something like that

Fold the fabric, lining together, and sew the edges together, so you get little pockets. Zigzag stich the long side parallel to zipper.

Just like that

Now take the 2 bigger pieces (15x25cm), right side together and sew the edges leaving a little turning opening gap.

Cut the corners… more cuts nicer rounding

And cut off the other corners

Turn inside out

I am using the handle of a wooden spoon to round my corners, you can use pretty much anything, just slide from the inside against the seam like pressing the seam

Press the corners with an iron and close the opening with a straight stitch

Take the 18×14 cm pieces, half them and press it

Sew right sides together and leave an opening to turn them inside out. Cut the corners and turn

Sew the opening together

Iron such a zigzag by first folding the 18x14cm piece in half (the long side) and then lining up the second bottom edge with the half edge and the end with the top edge, do both sides and both stripes (each 6even compartments)

Take the middle fold and sew a straight stitch close to the fold

Take your zipper pockets and put them next to the sewn fold, fold it in like a sandwich and sew a straight stich on the outside

Do these on all 4 sides and sew the other inside folds with a straight stitch, that will make sure the purse opens and closes properly without jamming up

Now assemble the inner purse with the outer fabric. Zippers point towards the rounded corners

Sew the sides together, leaving the cover fabric 3mm longer

Do this on both sides

Close the purse to move the insert to the right place

and sew the other side of the insert to the cover piece, do on both sides

Choose your snap buttons and attach

Finished! Hooray! If you are more advanced in sewing, you could use bias binding to make the edges of the zipper pockets look nicer or even attaching them to avoid this little whole you get. However I made this as a mock purse and I am still using it 🙂 It’s a nice beginner project and a good use of a fat quarter :))) Enjoy

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