Botany Charm Pack Reversible Purse

Hi Moda Bake Shop Fans!
I'm Bradie Sparrow from QuiltCetera.Com. I am thrilled to share this fun reversible purse recipe with you today. I love to make these purses with bright, funky fabrics, and this time I chose the new Moda line Botany, designed by Lauren and Jessi Jung. Say hello to my oldest of 8 children. My beautiful daughter Landen Emily modeling this cute little purse for us. Now, let's get on with the show!

One Charm Pack of Botany Fabric - or any Moda charm pack with minimum 36 squares.
Batting : 2 pieces measuring aprox. 15 X 10.5 inches for body of purse
and 2 pieces 1 1/4 inch X 26.5 inches for purse handles.
2 Large Buttons to match fabric






Start by separating your charms into their different color ways. Choose two colors for the outside of your bag, and another two colors for the inside. As you can see, The Boss (AKA Teenaged owner of said bag) chose pink and green for one side, and brown with teal for the other side.

To Make the Sides of the Bag:
You will need 12 squares for the inside and 12 for the outside. Sew them together in groups of 6 as shown in the pictured layout.


Take one panel of 6 (pink/green shown) and stitch it onto your 10.5 inch X 15 inch piece of batting. Stitch about 1/8 inch away from outer edge of fabric so your stitches will be hidden in the seam allownace later. Trim away the excess batting.
Repeat for one brown and teal panel.

To shape the top of your bag:
Flip the second pink/green panel (without batting) to it's wrong side. Make the following marks in the two outside squares of the top row. Mark a line 2.5 inches from the side of the square , and another line 2.5 inches from the top of the square. Draw a diagonal line between the two marks. Mark another small line 1/4 inch below the first mark on the side.
Use the same panel for the next step.

 To shape the bottom of the bag:
Make the following marks in the two outside squares of the bottom row. Mark a line 2.5 inches from the side of the square , and another line 2.5 inches from the bottom of the square. This marks the beginning and end of the curve to shape the bottom of the bag.

 Use a CD or DVD to draw the curve. This will be your cutting line. When you stitch the curve, it will be inside this drawn line. Repeat both shaping steps to mark the brown/teal panel.








To attach the bottom of two panels together:
Place your first pink/green panel, batting side down on your table. Place the second, with the markings, right side down on top of first panel. Pin the sides first at the small 1/4 inch mark. Pin your seams to make them match up nicely.


Pin the sides of the middle square in the bottom row (shown with 2 white flower head pins in picture above). This square needs to remain unstitched. You will turn the purse right side out through this hole in a later step. Begin stitching at the mark 1/4 inch below the diagonal line on the right side of the bag, carefully rounding the corners as you come to them. Remember not to stitch the middle square! (This is only for one 'pouch'. When you attach the brown/green panels to each other, you WILL stitch the middle square.) Finish stitching 1/4 below the diagonal line on the other side of the bag. Trim the rounded corners and press seams open.

Repeat for the brown/teal panels.

To Attach the two pouches:
Turn the brown/teal pouch inside out (right side of fabric facing inwards) with batting facing the table surface. Turn the pink/green bag right side facing out with batting layer closest to you. Ensure you don't have both batting layers on one side of the bag.

Begin pinning the top two layers together to attach the top of the two pouches. You will be pinning a pink/green to a brown/teal.
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First pin the top outer corners to align the pieces. Next pin the seams. Lastly pin the bottom of the two diagonal lines. Repeat for the other side of both pouches. Begin stitching on the bottom a diagonal line. The seam allowance will be outside of this diagonal stitching line. Don't worry about the small gap left open, we'll close that up real soon. Stitch around the entire top of the bag ending at the bottom of the opposite diagonal line.
Repeat for pinning and stitching the other side of the bag.

Pull the inside bag out of the outer bag. Lay bag flat and trim top corners 1/4 outside of the stitching line. Make sure no part of the bag is under the area being trimmed.
(Don't ask me why I am stressing this point!)

Now back to that little gap on both sides of the bag. Place a pin at the bottom of the diagonal line and stitch between the pin and the 1/4 inch mark only. You will need to stitch this gap twice on each side of the bag.

In the picture, I am showing you how the batting on the back is pointing to the left, and the batting in the front points to the right. Next stitch down the side of the bag to close the left over space.
This finishes the construction of the bag!

Now for the little details....







Remember the hole we left open in the middle square of the bag? Pull the entire bag out through that hole and arrange one bag inside the other.
Press the top of the bag really well, reaching inside to push out the corners as needed.
Stitch the opening closed. I stitched mine by machine (so it wasn't flopping around) then removed the stitches after and finished it by hand.

Choose a thread you like for top stitching around the top of the bag.

See where the blue flower head pin is? This is where you should start and stop your stitching, You can back stitch here and it will be hidden by the purse straps.

Making the straps:
Choose 6 charm squares to match the brown/teal side of the bag. Sew them together in one long strip to measure 5 inch wides by 27.5 inches. Fold in half and cut the strip in half to finish with 2 strips measuring 2.5 by 27.5 inches.
Repeat with another 6 charm squares for the pink/green side of the bag.

Press the strap in half lengthwise.









Open the strap up and fold each side in towards the middle and press again.






Place the long batting strips inside the strap and close the folds over the batting.

Fold up the short end and stitch it in place to finish the ends.
Repeat with the straps to match the pink/green side of bag.
Do Not place batting inside the second set of straps.

Lay the straps out on top of each other, with folds facing each other. Pin together and top stitch down the sides leaving the last 5 inches unstitched. This is how you will attach the straps to the purse.

Pin the straps onto the purse matching the proper colors. The bottom of the strap should be 3.5 inches from the top of the bag, and the strap should be centered over the seam. Arrange the other color of strap onto the inside of the purse and pin in place also. I push a pin through at the corners to make sure bath starps are in the same place, inside and out. You will stitch both straps on at the same time.
The photo on the right shows the straps after stitching to the purse.

We are sooooo close now! Make the strap closure:
Take one last charm square and cut in half. Sew the two pieces together to finish with a long piece 2.5 inches by 9.5 inches.

Press the short edges under, and stitch in place. Fold strap in half, open up and fold outer sides into middle, just like we did with the purse strap. Finally, fold the whole strap in half, to finish approx 9.25 inches by 5/8 inch.

Fold the strap as shown in picture and stitch across to hold in place. Center the strap on the purse 1.5 inches from the top of the bag. Pin in place, stitch, add a couple of buttons,and voila! You have a new bright and funky reversible purse.









And there you have it... A reversible one charm pack purse! I look forward to reading your thoughts and comments. Have fun!