How to sew a shoulder bag with a leather applique

Today I decided to sew a shoulder bag with appliqué.

To sew a bag I will need:
• monochrome compact cloth (I have furnishing fabric, a kind of basket cloth),
• fabric for lining (I always choose compact cloth that keeps shape),
• a piece of mock-leather,
• a zippermatching the basic fabric, 40-45 cm long; it’s better to use a separating one,
• a ruler, scissors, a piece of chalk,
• butterfly linedrawing (I’ve printed a picture from the Internet and cut out a stencil),
• thread matching the fabric,
• a sewing machine.

How to sew a bag, tutorial:

Take the basic fabric and cut 2 rectangles out of it: the first is 40 by 60 cm – it is the bag itself, the second is 90 by 8 cm –it will be the handle. If the fabric size does not allow cutting out such a long rectangle, you can sew together two strips 8 by 46 cm of size.

Out of the piece of mock-leather cut two strips 40 by 8 cm of size and two stenciled butterflies. It is advisable to cut out the lining after you sew the mock-leather strips down to the main cloth. In this case, the lining will be more accurate.
Pin and sew down the strips to the both sides of the fabric along the 40 cm long side. Turn out and sew front side stitch along the seam.
Fold the fabric for the handle in half along the long side and seam, folding the plain edge inside.

Then, make a stitch on the other long side of the handle to make it flat.
Pin the butterflies to the bag cloth and sew along the applique’s edge.

Fold the bag cloth in half face inside, pin and sew together along the edges. Measure the bag’s depth you’ve got along the seam and remember it!!! You will need it for cutting out the lining later.
Fold the bag like this in order to get the right angle, pin and leave 7 cm from both sides of the seam and draw a chalk line. Repeat the procedure on the other side of the bag.
Seam the corners on both sides of the bag along the marked line. You can turn out the bag and make a two-side stitch along the side sew.

Now it’s time to deal with the lining cutting-out. Out of the compact lining cloth cut a rectangle 40 by 72 cm of size (the bag depth multiplied by 2) and 2 rectangles of about 20 by 18 cm –they will be pockets.

On the lining mark up and draw zipper and pockets sewing lines, leaving 4-5 cm and 12 cm from the lining upper edge on both side saccordingly.
Fold the fabric 2 times inside along the long side of the pocketsand seam it. Pin the pockets to the lining, following the marking lines and sew them down.
Unzip and sew down both parts of the zipper, following the marking lines, leaving 3 cm from the side edge and 3 cm from the second edge as well.

Fold the lining in half, pin, sew together the side seams, stitch the corners as you have done for the bag.
Sew down the handle to the bag on both sides so that the side seam of the bag was placed in the middle of the handle.
Insert the bag into the lining “face to face”, adjusting the side seams, pin and seam, leaving a 12-14 cm piece unstitched.

Use it to turn the bag out to the front side and straighten the lining in it. Make a seam along the edge of the bag to sew up the hole, used for turning it out. You can make the second seam, leaving about 1 cm from the edge.