When we left off on Tuesday, both sides of the purse had pockets and handles attached. Today, I’ll show you the finishing.

Next is to put in the zipper. I place the zipper right sides together at the top of one side of the purse. Stitch at about 1/4-inch seam allowance. Stop when the pull is reached, lift the presser foot and move the pull out of the way, past the point of the needle. Then lower the foot again, and continue stitching to the end.

Fold over the zipper to the wrong side, pushing the seam allowance to the inside of the seam area. Pin.

Stitch in the ditch, enclosing the raw edge.

Repeat with the other side. See the enclosed edge of the first zipper side below.

Stitch in the ditch on the second side.

Next, line up the two sides and clip. The handle webbing should line up at the bottom. Open the zipper and pull the handles through the opening to keep them out of the way. Using clips instead of pins for these seams will help the pieces stay aligned better than pins, due to the thickness of the layers. Start on one side next to the zipper, sew down the side, pivot to sew across the bottom, then pivot again to sew up the other side. Go slowly over the thickest areas like over the handle webbing.

Using strips of lemon slice print at about 1-1/2 inches wide, cover the inside raw edge seams with a single layer binding. I sew it down, then turn to the other side and machine stitch as far as I can. This not only covers the raw edges, but essentially sews the side seams and bottom two more times, increasing the strength of the bag.

At the very top, I needed to put in a few hand stitches as the machine couldn’t reach it.

The last step is to box the corners. Pull the front and back apart, lining up the side seam and bottom seam, forming a triangle point. Stitch across to form a boxed corner. I put the line of stitching about 1-1/2 inches from the corner.

Turn the bag right side out, pushing out all the corners. The boxed triangles can lay in the bottom of the bag, or you could cut them off and cover the seams.

All done!

Don’tcha love this zipper pull?

Of course, I had to make a sunglasses case with the leftover fabric. It fits nicely in the center pocket.

All ready to carry with my spring and summer outfits.

I had just a little bit of lemon orchard print left, so I did another embroidery and pieced the leftover bits together for a cell phone cover. OK, I am out of both prints, so I can stop at this point, LOL!!

Now all I need to find are some sunglasses in yellow! And maybe a yellow hat.

What do you think of my little lemon purse? Do you think you might make this design in a favorite print?

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