It may not be a textile you’re familiar with using, but leather is a lot easier to work with than you might think. This gorgeous handbag is hard-wearing and, given proper care, should last a lifetime. We’ve hand-stitched soft leather in unusual colours for a sophisticated effect. Choose pretty contrast prints for the lining, as these will peek out on the bag’s outside too.
Make a bag
1.Download the templates and print. Cut two bag bodies, one flap and one flap decoration section from fusible interfacing. Then cut one 11cm x 15cm and one 15cm x 20cm rectangle. Press a fat quarter of printed cotton fabric and fuse the body and flap pieces to the reverse, leaving a generous 1cm border all the way round each piece.
Cut out the pieces. Fold the edges over the interfacing and tack down. Fuse the two rectangles and the flap decoration piece onto a second printed fabric. Add the same 1cm seam allowance, cut out, then fold over and tack the edges.
Cut two bag body pieces from purple leather. Trim a small triangle decoration piece from yellow leather and lightly glue to the bottom centre of one body piece. Use punch pliers to make a series of small holes around the top edges of the triangle, then sew through these holes with running stitch to attach the triangle to the body. Sew back through the work in the opposite direction to give the look of machine stitching. Fix the bottom half of a handbag clasp to the centre of the triangle.
Fold over 1cm on one long side of each of the two fabric rectangles and hem. Place one rectangle on the right side of a fab