Faux Leather Session 5: Sewing a Faux Leather Purse

So now that we have some faux leather techniques in theory, let's put them into practice, and we're going to make a purse. So we're combining cotton fabric and faux leather. So gather yourself some cute prints. My cute prints came from Wyndham fabrics, W-I-N-D-H-A-M fabrics.net. And you can use whatever combinations you want for the outer fabric and the lining, but we're going to need two rectangles that are 10 inches by 19 inches for the, the main body portion of that outside of the purse in cotton fabric. And then for our faux leather, for the main body portion, that rectangle is going to be 15 inches by 19 inches. And all these sizes are going to be written down for you in a bonus download. So you don't have to write anything down right now. We're going to need four strips. This is for our, our recessed zipper for the top of the purse. And those strips are two inches by 15 inches. Since I have my 14 inch separating zipper for the top of the purse. So these strips are two inches by 15 inches to attach that. And for the handles, we're going to cut two strips from our faux leather that are three inches by 36 inches and cut with, if you've got a ribbed backing cut with those ribs along the length of those handles. And for our lining, we want our lining to be 19 inches by 24 inches. And for our inner pocket, we're going to cut two rectangles seven inches by eight inches because I have my seven inch regular coils zipper for my pocket. And you can of course get a longer zipper and just cut your rectangle, your pocket rectangles longer for yours zipper. However big you want that in your pocket to be and then we need some interfacing. So I've got my medium weight interfacing. So it's not, it's not a feather weight. It's not super light, but it's not like a peltex. It's not super thick and heavy either. So this is Pellon 808. So it's feasible on one side, just kind of medium weight stiffness. So we want to cut two pieces of interfacing for our main cotton rectangles. And I like to cut my interfacing half inch to an inch smaller on all sides than my main, than my actual fabric piece. So that center, I center it in the inside of the piece so that it's not going all the way to the edge. So I kind of cut down on the amount of interfacing that I need, but it'll still get caught in the seam to make sure it's really attached. So interface these main pieces. We want to interface our pocket pieces and we also want to interface our leather piece. So cut your interfacing slightly smaller than the leather piece. And I have already sprayed my, my leather with my fusible adhesive to make sure that interfacing really attaches to the leather. And read the instructions. It says to, to hit it with the iron as well. So let's do that. So the shiny side is the fusible side. We're placing that down on the fabric. I'm going to take that over to our iron. And with the iron on low to medium heat and no steam, I'm going to adhere this. Whenever you're attaching interfacing, you don't want to do a sweeping motion. You want to do a up and down motion so that your interfacing doesn't shift on the fabric. And when interfacing leather, like I mentioned, this backing especially, and that soft flannelly backing as well are really hard to attach interfacing to. They just don't really want to stick. So you want to take your time, use a lot of pressure and weight. And since we're not using a super high heat, you need to be patient. It's very important that we get a good bond between our interfacing and the leather so that as we're using our purse, that interfacing does not detach from the leather, because then it's not doing any good. You wanna make sure you get a good bond around the outer edges of the interfacing. And we'll set that aside for a little bit later. Now we're going to start with our handles. So we're just going to do some flat handles. So we'll start with our strip. And to make our handles, we're going to fold this strip into thirds. So it started at three inches. So when we fold it into thirds, our handle is going to end up at one inch wide. So I like to mark myself a line to start. One inch from one edge. And use that guideline to fold this edge into. And then fold the outer edge over. So the cut edge that is showing on the outside should be very, very close to this fold because we're just going to edge stitch each edge of this strap to create the handle. And then I'm going to take some of my clips, just start clipping. You only need to clip on this one side and that'll hold everything down. And I'll go in ever so often and just make sure that this is staying roughly an inch. And if it's a little bit over an inch, an inch and a quarter, that is perfectly okay, just you want to make sure that it is consistent all the way down the handle. I get this a little bit closer to the edge. I'm going to clip just for a portion of this strap because we're going to be stitching these handles onto our main, one of our main body pieces. So we're going to stitch each side up to two inches below the upper edge, and then we're going to be stitching the center portion, which will be the handle, and then we're going to be stitching the remaining portion of the handle to the bag. So we're going to end our stitching for our handle two inches below the upper edge because we're going to have a recessed zipper at the top. So let's mark that. And I'll just crease it. There we go. Now we want to center our handle on the purse. So we're going to be attaching the handle with the outer edge 5 1/2 inches from this edge. We'll mark ourselves a line. That one, and we'll do this one as well. 5 1/2 inches from the edge. And that is where we're going to align the outer fold of the strap. Now we've got top stitching thread in our needle. We've got our top stitching needle. And since my faux leather is not super sticky on the upper side, I'm just using my regular presser foot. But if you need to, test stitch and see if you need a special foot to glide along the surface of the faux leather. And I have all purpose thread in my bobbin. You want to use all purpose thread in your bobbin that is a matching or similar to your top stitching thread. Now since I can't really pin my faux leather to my cotton fabric, I'm just going to have to kind of lay it along my guideline. And as I get up here, I'm going to end my stitching at my, my line here for my, it's my recess zipper. So I'm going to end here, pivot and go down the opposite side. And we actually, maybe we'll start on this side. Since when you're using the handle, we do have one edge, one raw edge that's going to be kind of showing. With a medium weight faux leather fabric, it's going to be thin enough that once you get it top stitched, this edge isn't going to bother you all that much. But when you're using the handle, you can position the handle so that as you're using it, that raw cut edge is going to be facing the inside of the purse. So it's not going to be facing out. So we are going to start right here. So I'm going to be top stitching just a very scant like eighth of an inch away from this fold but you can do a wider seam allowance if you want. You can do right against the edge. Just pick a point on your foot to make sure, pick a point on your foot to watch to make sure that your top stitching stays nice and even. And I'm making sure that this fold stays along my, my marked guideline and I have my stitch length bumped up to three. I'm gonna stitch nice and slowly. There's no rush. It's not a race. Let's work out some kinks here. So we're sewing through three layers of faux leather and a layer of interfaced cotton. So we've got some extra bulk going on here so make sure you, you're going slowly and evenly. And don't watch your needle as you're stitching, watch the fabric as it's going under the foot to make sure that that is aligning with the point on your presser foot that you have chosen for your top stitch and your edge stitching. And before you started stitching this handle, actually let me mention an option. So this is a really great place on the front of your purse to attach a pocket. So under these edges of your handles, you can just have this a pocket, cut your pocket however deep you want it to so that, and fold it with wrong sides together so the fold is at the upper edge and just lap the edges of the handles about a quarter to a half inch over the edges of your pocket. So we're not doing that here but it's a good option because the more pockets the better. And if you are having any tension issues in this area, you may want to try switching back to a universal needle. Now, I mentioned the top stitching needle is good for top stitching to avoid putting extra tension on the thread. But sometimes just going back to a regular medium weight, universal needle can alleviate any problems that you may be having. So up here at this edge, this is my two inch mark. I'm going to stitch as close as I can get, not directly on that line, but pretty close to it. So I just bumped my stitch length down to get pretty close to that. And with my needle down in the fabric I'm going to pivot. Look at that beautiful line of top stitching. I love it. And since everything is kind of held down with this line of stitching, I can start removing my clips as I go. And you may be able to see as I start removing the clips, a little bit of an indentation there from the clip, but my top stitching is kind of going to go over that and that will, that will ease out. That'll relax with time. So we're going to stitch directly across the strap to the other edge, and you can lift off your presser foot and turn to kind of gauge if you are in the right spot. I'm going to bump my stitch length down to get a little bit closer to the edge so that when I start my stitching I'm at the right distance away from my fold to keep all of my top stitching consistent. Go a little bit faster. All right. So there's the first portion of the seam. So that's looking beautiful. So now we're going to stitch the center section. So we're going to do the very same thing, just folding this into thirds and clipping. Now for the center portion, we only want to stitch the center portion up to where the the handle will meet this line. So I put my clip right here so that the upper edge of this clip denotes where I'm going to be stitching this handle section down onto the fabric. And when I stitch the center portion, I'm going to start about a quarter inch above this line. So let's fold that. We'll do it this way. And you'll notice I didn't backstitch anywhere. Like I mentioned, we're just going to be pulling our threads to the wrong side and tying them off to avoid putting any extra holes in the faux leather. And if you have cut your strap pretty straight along the ribs of the backing, this will all lay together pretty nice and flat. And it's especially important on this section of the strap that our cut edge gets pretty close to that folded edge. So that as we're edge stitching, we make sure to catch that cut edge in the stitching. All right, looking good. So, we're going to be edge stitching each edge of this strap and pivoting across the width just as we did for our strap up until this point right here. All right, so let's start right here. So we're going to start about a quarter inch from where we left off to stitch the center section. Well, let's make sure we get our exposed zipper part out of the way. I'm gonna fold this portion down. We do not want that to be caught in our stitching. So we're only stitching on the faux leather. All right. And here is where you want to be careful making sure that these binder clips don't catch on the bed of the machine and pull your fabric. So kind of make sure this is held a little bit up. And you can stitch slowly, stop and reposition as much as you need to, just trying to keep this top stitching nice and even. And if you get one stitch that's a little bit wonky, a little bit closer to the edge, it's not a big deal. When you've got your face right down next to the needle, you'll be able to see it. But when you're using the purse, it's just going to blend into the rest of the stitches and you're not going to see it. So don't worry too much. I know, of course I say that, but I'm a perfectionist. So it would drive me nuts. But I try to be chill about it. So we're gonna stop and pivot about a quarter inch from this mark. I made my mark with my binder clip. I'm going to pivot across the strap and go back down the other side. If you have to bump your stitch length down as you approached that pivot point, make sure you bump it back up before you start stitching down the opposite end of the strap. So I'm using a three millimeter stitch length, which is just one point up from my default stitch length of 2.5 But do some test, test stitching before you start to test your settings and see what stitch length you like for top stitching. You may like a slightly longer stitch length than this even. I'm gonna pivot across, finish this up. There we go. So we have this beautiful top stitching along our handle. And when we use the handle, that cut edge is going to be facing the inside. And this is why you want to use a thread in your bobbin that matches your leather. I have white in my bobbin right now so you can see where the seam is happening but you'll be able to see that on the underside of your handle. Not that you're going to be able to see it a lot when you're using the purse because it's going to be on the underside of the handle, but trying to keep your thread similar colors to your fabrics. So we're going to finish it off by doing the very same thing as we did on this side. So we're to fold and clip. We're going to line our fold, our outer fold with this guideline that we stick, or that we drew. I'm just kind of stopping periodically since my handle is not pinned down to my fabric. I'm just stopping to make sure that this fold is right along my, my red guideline. There we are. How pretty is that? I love the look of faux leather with cotton prints. Now, since we didn't back stitch, here is where you would want to just pull on those bobbin threads a little bit to pull that last needle thread through to the wrong side. A Stiletto or a pin is especially helpful in getting that thread to the wrong side. Tie off those threads, and then clip them off. And do that wherever you have these threads. And you don't need to do it at this lower edge because we're going to be capturing this lower edge in a seam anyway. So believe it or not, that was the hardest part. It's all downhill from here. So want to do that to both of your front pieces. Magically, I have my other one done. And then we're going to attach our leather body piece. So this is going to be folded up like this. And this is going to be, all right, like this. And this is going to be the lower edge of the purse. So we're going to attach this, one of the long edges of the leather piece to the lower edge of one of your main fabric pieces. And we're going to switch out our top stitching thread for all purpose thread since we're sewing a construction seam and not a decorative top stitching seam. And I like to use it a universal needle for construction seams, especially when using a nice, flexible medium weight faux leather. I'll go ahead and make myself a half inch seam allowance because I like to have a guideline to sew on. It makes everything so much easier. I find half inch seam allowances to be plenty. And also it makes it easier when designing a project to add up a seam allowances. So I'm sewing with my faux leather facing up. And I don't feel the need to clip anything. I can kind of hold these pieces together just fine. We're not working with too many layers here. I'm not going to backstitch at the beginning or end here either because this seam is going to get caught in the side seam anyway. Now, as you approach, you can feel that the bulk of the handle right here, as you approach that, slow down a little bit. If your leather was much thicker than this one, you may need to walk that using the hand wheel over that bulk. Here is the beginnings of our purse. It's going to be beautiful. So we're going to do the same thing to the other side. And I am still using a slightly elongated stitch length. So I still have my stitch length at three to avoid creating too many holes or perforations in the faux leather. All right. There is the main body of our purse. Now on these seams, you're gonna wanna these. I'm going to press these down toward the leather. If you using a faux leather variety that reacts poorly to heat, you'd want to use your roller to press these seams down. And this is just kind of to get them open a little bit because I'm going to top stitch the seam anyway. So that's going to hold these down nice and flat. So I'm going to top stitch on the faux leather right next to this seam, and that is going to hold our seam allowances down. Then it's just going to be kind of pretty. So switching back to our top stitching thread. All right. So we are going to be top stitching right along this seam. So I'm going to trim a little bit of this bulk out. Since right here, we've got a lot of, we've got interfaced cotton, which will add a little bit of bulk but then we've definitely got our, our handle there. It's pretty bulky. So we're going to just trim some of that out. Just trimming this seam allowance down by about half. And when we top stitch, we are going to top stitch from the right side so that we can make sure that all of our top stitching is nice and neat and straight and even. So, even if the top stitching doesn't catch this seam allowance, it's not a big deal because it's the leather seam allowance that we really want to keep flat. So got a lot of fabric here that we're working with. So I'm going to just roll this up to get it to go through my, through the bed of my machine. I'm going to make sure, kind of hold this seam allowance down toward the leather to make sure that that stays flat. Very same thing as the top stitching on our handles. You want to try and keep that, the distance that were top stitching even with the distance that you top stitched on the handles, just to keep everything consistent. And this, the weight of this fabric can kind of drag against you too. So make sure that that's not hanging back. Ever so often, just check on the underside to make sure that that seam allowance is facing the correct direction. And as we're going over this handle, we've got a lot of bulk here. We've got five layers of leather and two layers of interfaced cotton. So I'm going to walk my hand wheel across this. There we go. Stay consistent with your speed. Carefully walking the hand wheel over this bulk. All right. It's going well, flip it around. Same thing, other side. Since faux leather is pretty thick for your needle to pierce, if you are doing a large project with faux leather and especially if you're using the faux leather that has that flannelly type of backing may dull your needle pretty quickly. If you're doing something large with that type of backing you may need to just keep an eye on, on your stitches and make sure your needle isn't dulling. If you start getting skipped stitches, that may be a symptom of a dull needle. All right. There we go. We're all top stitched. Nice. All right, now we're going to stitch our side seams. So everything right sides together. We're simply going to be stitching from the very upper edge all the way down. So we're going to throw our all-purpose thread back on here. Now, the only tricky part with stitching the side seams is making sure that this matches up. We want to match up our seams. I'm going to draw myself my half inch seam allowance line first. So I make sure I have something to stitch along. Now starting from right here, I'm going to start clipping. So aligning my raw edges. And aligning this seam. I'm gonna put a clip right there. I want that to stay right where it is. Then everything else should lay nice and flat. All the way down to the lower edge. Let's open out up, see how I did. That looks nice. Nice and even right there. All right, do the same thing to the other side. Raw edge is aligned. Make sure that seam is matched. All right, those are our side seams. Next we're going to box these corners. And boxing the corners just gives a little bit of width to the purse, a little dimension to it. So open this up, flatten it out. And since this, the lower edge doesn't have a seam for us to match up with this seam, we're going to have to rely on the angle here. So making sure that we've got an even triangle. And this should be at a right angle. And that's how you know that this side seam is matched up with the very center of the lower edge. Now I'm going to do, I'm going to box my corner one inch. So one inch from this very tip, I'm gonna draw a line. I'm going to stitch right across here. Throw a clip in to hold this angle down. You'd want to press this open real nice. Get that nice and flat and open. I'm going to do some just finger press that open. And then stitch across this line. Actually going to clip this seam allowance too, to open that up. I'm gonna tie these threads off since I didn't backstitch. Then we're going to just trim across that corner. Just trim that away, leaving about a half inch seam allowance. Let me do the same thing on the other side. One inch from the point, draw a line across. My clips here just make sure that this stays flat, and at the right angle. Tie off these threads. Since I am against back stitching with faux leather. There are people who will advise that you can backstitch when sewing faux leather. But I just think every time you put an extra hole in the fabric, I would rather not. So tying off those threads. Trimming this down to a half inch seam allowance. You'd want to make sure these seams are pressed open nicely, nice and flat. And let's turn that out cause this is the body of our bag. We're done. So there's our boxed corner. Just gives us some, some width there and kind of some dimension to the bottom of the bag. There we go. It's the outside. And our seams are matched at the sides, there in there. We would trim all of our threads of course. But that's the outside of the bag. So in the next session, we're going to go over making our lining and inserting it and finish everything up.