County Fair Folklore

I finally made my first handbag. This is made from Denyse Schmidt's County Fair home dec weight fabric, lined with Kona in Curry, using the Folklore pattern from One Yard Wonders. I wish I'd googled the title of the pattern before making it. The wisdom of the internet would have warned me that there are multiple errors in the patterns in this book. Oh well, I was able to fix them, but if you like the style of this bag you should know a few things.

First, the pattern piece for the lining is too small. I adjusted for this by using narrower seam allowances when making the lining. The markings for the pleats are not wide enough on the outside of the bag. That's easy to fix. Even though it doesn't tell you to, be sure to interface the straps. Fusible fleece will give the bag a better shape than interfacing. And finally, the construction of the bag is a little odd. Instead of sewing right sides together, in a few places it has you iron under the seam allowance and then top stitch it to another piece. I guess whatever works.
In the end, I'm glad to have finally tackled making a handbag (with a magnetic closure - which, by the way, is easy peasy to put in). It was kind of fun.