The Alanda Bag – Handbag Tutorial

The Alanda handbag is ideal sewing project for those times when you want  to run up a small bag that matches an outfit and  that can be used to hold your phone and a few other personal items.

Small hand bags are popular right now and bag is easy to make. Just follow our written instructions or watch the video to see just how easy it is.

So let’s get started.

Here is our tutorial on how to make the Alanda bag. These handbags are ideal to run up to match an outfit and for when you don’t want to be carrying around a large bag. You can slip your phone in the pocket on the front.

Watch the video tutorial below or scroll down for the written instructions

The beauty of the Alanda bag is that you can add more pockets to the outside and even put some on the inside using the same method as the pocket we show you on the front.

This bag measures approx. 11″ x 6½”.

What You Need:

Main Bag Pieces

• 1 pce 18″ x 12″ fabric for main
• 1 pce 18″ x 12″ fabric for lining

Pocket

• 1 pce 10″ x 12″contrasting fabric for pocket
• 1 pce 1½” x 12″ contrasting fabric for pocket trim

Gussets

• 2 pcs 4½” x 7¼” contrasting fabric  for gussets
• 2 pcs  4½” x 7¼” lining fabric

Interfacing

• 1 pce 18″ x 12″ medium weight interfacing for the body of the bag
• 2 pcs 4½” x 7¼” medium weight interfacing for gussets
• 1 pce 3½” x 11″ heavyweight interfacing for the base of the bag.

Handles

• 2 strips 64″ long and 2½” wide of two contrasting fabrics for handles

Other

• 1 pce tubular elastic 8″
• 2 buttons

Method:

Main Part of Bag

• Lay the fabric right side facing down towards the  ironing surface.
• Iron medium weight interfacing to the wrong side of the main fabric.

Once you have the interfacing attached, do the following:

• Draw lines at 7″ and 11″ as shown below
• Place  a piece of heavy weight interfacing in between the lines you have drawn and  top stich into place.
• Make sure the cotton in your  bobbin  matches the colour of  your main fabric.

Pocket

• Fold Pocket piece in half and press with the iron to get a nice sharp center crease

Pocket Trim

• Fold the pocket trim piece in half longways and press.
• Open and fold each of the side edges in to the center and press
• Fold trim over the raw edges of the pocket, pin in place and topstitch down to neaten.

Watch the video to see this in detail.

Handles

• Two strips measuring 64 inches are required for your handles.
• You will need to sew a number of strips together to get 64 inches.

• Place the 64-inch strips face down on top of each other and sew together down one long edge with ¼” seam.

• Press seam open.
• Fold each edge to center and press.
• Top stitch down each edge to create a two-toned handle.

Attach the handles to the bag.

• Measure and draw a  line 2½” in from the sides and all the way down the bag.
•  Draw a mark 6½” from the top of the bag intersecting the line you just drew.
• Draw another line on both short edges of the bag ¼” from the edge.

• Take your handle and fold it in half.
• Place a pin or draw a line at the halfway mark.
• Lay the handle along the line putting the two raw-edges close together at the 6½” mark and the halfway pin on the 6½” mark on the other side of the bag.
• Pin handle in place and topstitch to bag keeping stitch line as close as possible to the previous topstitching on the handle.
• NOTE

  Sew only as far as the ¼” marks on all four edges.

Front of bag showing handles pinned in place.

Attaching the Pocket

• Fold the pocket in half and draw a line at the halfway mark – should be 6″
• Now place the top of pocket 1½” from the top of the bag and pin in place. You will now topstitch along the lower edge of the pocket to hold the pocket in place.
• Sew along the line you have drawn at the halfway mark, backstitching top and bottom to keep pocket securely fastened to the bag.

Gussets

• Take your gusset squares and measure 1½” up from one edge on the long edge of each piece and make a mark with your frixion or water soluble pen.
• Measure in ¾” on each side on the other edge on the short side and make a mark.
• Draw a line from the 1½” mark to the ¾” mark and cut along this line to get the gusset shape.
• Repeat with all 4 gusset pieces.

Adding the Gussets

• Place one gusset to the side of the bag making sure the edges line up and pin. Sew a ¼” seam down one side, pivot and sew along the bottom of the bag, pivot and sew up the other side. (You may want to watch the video for this step if you are unsure how it is done. I was unable to get a clear picture of the process)
• Repeat for the other side of the bag and do the same to the lining pieces.

How to Finish the Bag

•  Add a button to ea side of the bag. Use buttons with a shank so that you can thread the elastic through one of them so that the elastic can be looped over the button on the other side to close the bag.

Add the Lining

• Turn the lining inside out and place the bag inside the lining – right sides together. Make sure the handles are tucked into the bag so they don’t get caught up in your stitching.
• Sew around the top of the bag leaving about a 4-5 ” gap between one lot of the handles. This is so you can turn the bag through when you finish stitching.
• Use a ¼”inch seam and sew close to the handles as you can, making sure you don’t catch them between the lining and the main piece.

• Turn the bag through and topstitch around the edge sewing over the handles as you come to them so that they are anchored to the top of the bag.