Purse Sewing Patterns

Do it yourself luxe

Yet cheaper high-street items often turn out to be a false economy; I've lost count of the number of dresses I've paid the best part of £100 for, only for them to fade or fall apart after a couple of washes.

Unfortunately, my budget is such that any handbag made of leather, never mind an it-bag, is out of reach. So I decided to make my own. Not just a bag, but shoes, jewellery and a dress, too.

Luckily, British craftsmanship is world class. And many of the country's very best craftspeople provide tuition aimed at beginners.

In London, Central Saint Martins and the London College of Fashion provide a wide variety of excellent courses, and fashion colleges all over the country offer evening classes.

Good classes aren't cheap but they're certainly cost less than your average pair of designer shoes. And when the quality is high, they're a worthwhile investment.

With zero sewing experience, I found myself at a dressmaking class at the Papered Parlour in south London.

The instructor, Mia Jafari, studied textiles at Central Saint Martins before setting up her own label, Ladybirds Love Strawberry Cosmos.

I arrived at the workshop with a pattern (bought from a great selection at John Lewis) and fabric, but materials and a basic customiseable dress pattern are available with the class.

You can even make your own pattern. 'Look at a dress you like,' says Jafari, 'and try to count how many pieces of fabric it's made of. This will help you visualise the parts and, therefore, the pattern that make it.'

Dress patterns are drawn on sturdy paper and are used as a template to cut the fabric. Always cut your pattern a little bit bigger than it should be, as it can always be taken in afterwards.

Seam and tolerance allowances are vitally important, so that when you cut it you have enough to sew the pieces together without making it too small.

Now the tricky bit: the sewing-machine. Practice was encouraged, so that mistakes on the actual dress could be kept to a minimum.

But mistakes aren't the end of the world. 'There is nothing bad about unpicking your work,' says Jafari. 'Being able to undo your mistakes and correct them is the key to getting a good finish; it just takes patience.'

Patience, it seems, is the golden rule. Once I got the hang of pinning the fabric and using the sewing-machine, it wasn't even that difficult.

And, before I knew it, I had created a beautiful linen dress that would have cost a bomb to buy.

The Bag Making Bible - Sewing & Much More

I am so tired of being let down by sewing books. Either I don’t like the patterns or the supplies needed cost more than the book itself, etc. When I pre-ordered this book I really tried not to get my hopes up too high. I opened the book and thumbed through the patterns but I was so thrilled to see more than just patterns. Lisa Lam organized this book in a great way. There are only 8 actual purse patterns BUT the skills she teaches you really allows you to be creative and create ANY bag you want ANY size with ANY kind of additions (pockets, hardware, zippers, straps, etc.). I LOVE THIS book. I am actually going to return a different purse making book because all that I need (and more) is in Lisa’s book. Even if you are a beginner you will love this book and she will walk you through how to sew your own handbag! I hope to find a book that makes making dresses as fun!!!

Lisa Lam is obviously an extremely talented bag maker, and the bags she shows in this book are proof of that. It’s a lovely book, full of inspirational photos, but my problem with the book lies with the instructions for each bag pattern. If you are buying this book for inspiration, then go for it. However I would caution that if you are buying this book for instructions on how to make the bags, it is extremely confusing.

I’ve been sewing for over ten years and know how to read a pattern. I feel that Lisa tried to compress her patterns to fit neatly into each page and did not give enough space to thoroughly explaining each step of the pattern:

a) instructions for each step are too brief

I had this book on preorder early on, because I was familiar with Lisa Lam’s excellent blog about bag sewing–it’s one of the few sewing books I’ve ordered without reading any reviews. I just knew that it would be good, since Lisa’s blog is so outstanding. Fortunately, I was not at all disappointed.

The book is really two books in one. First, it’s an excellent reference book that gives you all the details you need to construct your own bags, from basics like gussets, to more advanced techniques involving hardware. There are tips and tricks interspersed throughout the book, and I really learned a lot on the first read (and I’ve sew a lot of bags!).

The Bag Making Bible is also a project book with eight patterns to sew. The projects range from simple totes to complex projects such as a briefcase-type messenger. While eight projects isn’t as many as you often see in sewing books, they’re eight high-quality projects, and no filler like is so common in craft books. The photography of the process of bag-making is really helpful as well, especially when it comes to illustrating techniques related to unfamiliar hardware. One of the things that stands out to me, is that the author chose to make her sample projects in a variety of fabrics, rather than the quilting cotton that’s so commonly used for all projects in sewing books–this really shows the diversity of looks you can achieve by making your own bags.

Making vintage bags, 20 original sewing patterns for vintage bags and purses

Re-Bound, Creating Handmade Books from Recycled and Repurposed Materials

Quilted Bags & Purses

How to organize just about everything, more than 500 step-by-step instructions for everything from organizing your closets to planning a wedding to creating a flawless filing system

Making Leather Purses & Totes