On my second attempt after my return to sewing, I was quite successful in making a lined bag. Of coruse, I still don’t have the instructions for the Amy Butler pattern so I switched it up and followed the tutorial I posted about earlier from Very Purple (tutorial is here and excellently written for even a beginner like me).

I cleared off the table, made myself a PB&J, put on some Barrry Manilow, and got to work on cutting out the pieces. I had two yards of the fabric but didn’t want to have to break into the second yard. This meant sewing two pieces together for each of the two “inside” pieces which I thought would be a disaster but actually worked out well.

I followed the directions almost exactly, except where it came to sewing up the straps and the part of the purse you leave un-sewn in order to have room to flip it out (for lack of a better term). Instead of overstitching, I just hand-stitched those seams, though I did sew the ends of the straps together using my machine.

My favorite part is probably the darts, something I’ve never sewn before but somehow manged to figure out on my own.

The finished bag is the perfect size to carry my DSLR, wallet, and phone around with me shopping and what not. It’s not super strong so no super heavy items will be carried in it but for that sort of daily use, it’s just about perfect.

(And the whole project cost less than $5 because the Crate and Barrel outlet here sells amazing Marimekko cotton fabrics like this for $5 a yard. This project used, I’d say, 2/3s of a yard in all, though the remaining pieces are more suited for small items like a zippered notions bag than another large bag like this.)