Lady Bug Purse Tutorial

So who wants to make a cute ladybug purse?  I am telling you this was EASY, quick and my daughter has taken it every where we have gone since I made it for her.  She LOVES it!  So here is what you need:

2 fat quarters
2 pieces of 14 inch ribbon
1 piece of 3 inch ribbon
two scrap pieces of fabric about 5 inches or so in all directions
interfacing ( optional )

READ INSTRUCTIONS ALL THE WAY THROUGH BEFORE SEWING!

I started out by cutting TWO pieces of fabric 11 1/2 inches tall by 11 inches wide from one fat quarter.  If you have pattern on your fabric that is directional ( meaning the pattern goes one way ) then make sure you cut it going the way you need it.  Mine needed to have the animals upright so I made sure to do so.

Do this with both fat quarters.  One will be the outside of the purse and one will be the inside.  If you want to interface it, do so now.  I decided for my daughter, it didn't really need it.  Don't know what interfacing is?  It is the stuff that makes purses stiffer and more padded.

Next you want to round the corners ( you don't HAVE to, but that is the look I wanted for my purse.  I didn't want it to just look like a cute tote, but a purse instead. )  I just grabbed a bowl from my cupboard and used that to outline a curved edge.  Make sure to do it to both the left and right corners of the bottom of the fabric like so

Again, make sure you do this with all four of the pieces of 11 1/2 X 11 inch pieces.  

Next you want to pick a color for the lady bug.  I picked some pink fleece.  If you are doing a lady bug like me you want it to be an exact circle.  I used another bowl that was slightly smaller then the one I used to round out my edges.  It turned out to be about 5 1/2 X 5 1/2 inches all the way around.  Yours can be whatever size you want!

Next I made another circle cut out for the wings.  I chose a black and white polka dots so it could be close to what a real lady bug looks like but anything works well.

Here are my circles.

Next I took the circle that would become the wings and folded it in half and then cut it down the center.  This gave me two pieces like so

HOWEVER, this part is up to you.  The one I saw in the store had wings that were much smaller.  I played around with this and I liked the big wings because that is how a real lady bug would be.  YOU DO WHAT YOU LIKE!

Now, I didn't have any iron on adhesive and so I used some spray on glue.  Very clever I thought until I noticed I sprayed it all over my hand and everything was sticking to it!!!   Not cool...

Place your lady bug how you want it on the out side of your fabric.  I over lapped my wings a little because again, I LIKED it like that!  Do what you like....

I then did a zig zag stitch all the way around the wings and body.  This is going to get repetitive but seriously do it how you think it will look cute.  I think the zig zag kinda ties everything together.

Looking cute right?  Now I took a round piece of tule ( you know the kind they sell at the dollar tree in the wedding section ) and scrunch it in the center and pin it to the lady bug over the wings right in the center.

I LOVE the tule.....if you don't like it, scratch it!


Next take your 3 inches of ribbon for the antennas.  There are a couple of things you can do.  I just pinch mine in the center and folded it over and glued it.  If you want to make the antennas a little cuter you could tie knots on the ends.  The version I saw did this.  I was just too lazy and the ribbon I liked was a little too fat for that.

Next glue it to the button of your choice.  Or whatever you think would make a cute head.  I thought a button was a good idea but you could get really creative with that.  And then I got lazy again and instead of sewing the button on, I glued it.

Now that the outside is done you need to pin the two outside pieces with the right sides together and sew all the way around on the sides leaving the top OPEN ( i love how you can still see all the black lint stuck to my fingers!  haha )

Put the top off to the side and do the same with the inside pieces ( if you want pockets on the inside you must do so now BEFORE sewing it together.  Since mine was for a 2 year old I felt pockets to be unnecessary )

When sewing the inside together ( right sides together again ) make sure to leave an opening on the bottom.  A good 5 to 7 inches.  This is so you can turn the bag right side out in a minute.  What I do to remind meyself so I don't forget and just keep on sewing is I do a double pin where I want to stop sewing.

In the picture above you would NOT sew in between the two sets of double pins.

Next I clip the corners and I iron open the seams.

If you have NEVER made a purse before this next part will seem weird.  Trust me though...I have made about 40ish purses!

Take the outside of the bag and turn it so it is wrong sides facing together ( in other words, what it will look like when the bag is ALL done! )  Then take the INSIDE of the bag and put it over the outside of the bag so that the right sides of both fabrics and facing each other.  Check out the picture if you are confused.  It should look like this

Next you take those seams you ironed open and line them up and pin them together ( with the seams still open )

Next you want to take your 14 inch ribbon and pin it where you want your straps to be.  Honestly if you are smart ( unlike me ) you will do this BEFORE pinning the two together.....I forgot, however and had to do it on this step.  Also, look at my picture below:  you will notice that my ribbon was sliding sideways.  You do NOT want that to happen!!!  If you do then your straps will be crooked.  I had to fix this a million times before I sewed it down.  If you are smart ( unlike ME! ) pin the strap to the outside of the fabric BEFORE putting the inside over and lining up the side seams.  It seems fussy but it will be worth it I promise!  Also, make sure you pin the strap in between the two.  If you pin it to the outside of everything right now, when you go to turn your purse the right way, your straps will be trapped between the two fabrics.

Next you want to sew all the way around the top of your bag.  You are ALMOST done!  WOO HOO

After you sew around the top you may be wondering how you are going to pull the whole purse the right way.  Have no fear!  Do you remember that hole we left in the bottom of the inside of the purse?  Find that hole, put your hand in it and pull the OUTSIDE of the bag through it like so

It should look like this when you pull it through  ( at this point your daughter might come to see whats going on and get REALLY excited to see something you made for her! )

Next you want to shove the inside of the bag....well....in the INSIDE!  And then iron down the top of the bag and stitch across the top again to make sure the lining stays down.  Also, it just looks cuter when you finish the top.  I again used a zig zag just because I think it fit with everything else better.

Next do you remember that stupid  dumb hole in the bottom of the lining?  ( I'm not aloud to say stupid because I get yelled at by my 5 year old for saying a bad word.  Aunt Kimmie got yelled at a LOT while she was here last week haha

You want to tuck under the seam and iron it down.  Then pin it closed and sew it down.

You could also just sew it by hand.  I was just lazy and I like to think that when I sew it by hand it makes it slightly weaker.  Then again, my daughter is putting really small things in here so far.  She had some crayons, some bracelets and some puzzle pieces in it all weekend.

You now have an adorable new purse for your daughter, grand daughter, sister, friend, niece or heck, yourself!

I was thinking of all of the fun animals you could do instead of a lady bug.

butterfly
monkey
OWL ( i'm gonna try that one! )
caterpillar
hippo

all sorts of fun and easy different shapes and sizes.  I would LOVE to see if anyone does one.  Send me a link if you do and if I get enough of them I will make a new blog in a month or so and post all of them who send them in.  Either leave a link in the comments or email me at  katiesclicks at yahoo dot com.

I hope everyone had a great Monday!  Mine was awful!  haha  I woke up to realize it was that "time" of the month, my kids were PMSing WAAAAAAAAY worse then I was and I had a bunch of errands to run.  Not cool.  Then my husband came home and he was in a bad mood too which just made everything worse.  Now the kids are in bed, the house is quiet and we are both typing away on our lap tops.  Him doing homework ( he is ALMOST done with his first bachelor's degree!  His second one should be done by April! ) and I am changing the craft world one tutorial at a time....okay not really but hopefully at least ONE person enjoys this tutorial and gives it a try.  :)

Thanks for reading and let me know if you have any questions.

I'm linking up to some parties through out the week...