Child's handbag and small doll

I wanted to make a child's handbag to give a birthday present, and after a bit of research, I decided that this little pleated purse (here in my version) was just the free tutorial I needed. 

Normally if I give a purse or a bag as a gift, I try to stuff it, to hold its shape. However, I thought 4 year old Rose might get excited by some screwed up tissue paper and then suffer a disappointment to realise there was not anything inside the paper. So I decided to make a little doll to put inside, which would match the bag.

To find out how I made these, read on!


The design for the bag, by Crystal of Stitched by Crystal, and tutorial, can be found hosted on the Make It Love It web site. These are both free.

[Quick footnote: don't try to follow the links to the tutorial on the Make It Love It page, the links don't work - but all the information you need is on the Make It Love It page that I have linked to.]

It's a nice project because you could largely make it from scraps. I found it through a link on things you can make from a fat quarter. The full tutorial is given on the Make It Love it web site. However, I'll summarise it here, because I have found the web sites for some of my favourite sewing ideas can sometimes disappear.                           

I made the bag slightly larger than the Stitched by Crystal design, with a longer handle for a 4 year old. With hindsight, I could even have made it larger still. Here are the dimensions:

• Body of bag: Rectangle 11" x 5" x 2 outer, 2 interfacing, 2 lining (I made mine 12" x 5.5")
• Top band 9" x 2.5" x 4 outer and 4 interfacing (I made mine 9.5")
• Strap 4" x 20" of outer fabric only (I made mine 21.5" and also made an interfacing as this was very thin fabric)
• Button loop 4" x 4"
• 1/2" seam allowances

I used some striped material from a fat quarter, and cut the pieces in different directions. 

I interfaced the strap as well as the other pieces, because the outer material was quite flimsy. I used a plain dark pink cotton from my scraps box as a firmer material for the lining. (Seen in the picture below.)

Here's the method in summary:

• Iron interfacing to 2 outers and 4 top bands (and in my case, to strap)
• Make strap by folding long sides into itself in 4, and top stitching both long sides
• Button loop - fold the little square in half diagonally, and sew 3/8" from the folded edge on bias, turn through and trim
• Round the shape of the bottom corners of all the bag and lining pieces (e.g. use a cup to draw the curve and then cut)
• Fold one main bag piece in half vertically right sides together (RST), and trim the top at an angle, starting 1" down from the top at the sides, up to zero at the fold. Repeat with other 3 pieces.
• On one of the outer pieces, still folded fold back in half RST, mark 1" from the fold at the top. Sew a few stitches from the edge at this mark, down to seam allowance. Unfold and press the pleat flat, evenly across the little seam, (i.e. so the little seam is in the middle of the pleat). Baste in place 1/4" from edge, repeat with other outer.
• Place 1 outer RST with 1 band piece, pin and sew. Press seam towards band and top stitch. Repeat with the other.
• Sew the two outers RST round the sides and bottom, notch the edges, turn right side out and press. Line the end (raw edge) of the strap up with raw edge of bag, centring over side seam, pin then baste in place. Repeat on the other side of the bag making sure the strap isn't twisted.
• Pin then baste button loop in the middle of one side on outside, with raw edges lined up with top of band.
• Gather top of lining to fit band, pin RST then sew lining to band. Repeat.
• Sew lining pieces together RST but leave a 3" gap at the bottom
• Stuff bag inside lining RST. Sew tops together keeping strap out of the way. Turn out through the gap. Fold raw edge of gap in and stitch closed. Top stitch top and sew on button

Now for the doll. I found this design for a Ballerina Doll from Remodelaholic, by Cassity. Her doll I think is probably at least 18" tall, but I needed something much smaller. So although I downloaded the whole pattern, for this project, I actually only printed page 2, which was the layout plan, like this.

I then sized it so that the pattern pieces would print about 9-10" tall, to make a finished doll of 7-8".

In cutting out, I needed to make the legs and arms a bit wider than my reduced size pattern, as the tubes that would make them were going to be pretty hard to turn inside out after sewing right sides together. 

I partly followed the tutorial on Cassity's web site, but I didn't follow all the steps exactly, because I found it easier to do bit by bit, with a fair bit of hand-sewing.  So this is how I did it.

• Made head (prepared face and back of head by adding hair, using machine and zig zag stitch, made top knot, (sewn on outside)
• Stuffed the top knot, sewed top knot between layers of head RST by machine, and turned head right side out, stuffed it and sewed the face on (prob easier to have done that first
• Made arms (sewn on machine RST, turned them through right side out, then stuffed)
• Hand-butonhole stitched vest for front and back onto bodice pieces
• Sewed bodice neck onto head front and back (separate pieces) by hand
• Sewed arms into bodice and bodice side seams inside out by hand (too small for machine)
• Turned through and part stuffed
• Made skirt, gathered and attached to bodice by hand
• Made lower trunk as a rectangle, sewed side seams by machine. Pulled it inside out over bottom of waist on bodice (keeping arms out of the way - quite tight and fiddly) and sewed on by hand. Part stuffed.
• Made top part of legs as tubes sewed on machine, and turned out, part stuffed.
• Made socks and shoes out of knit fabric (white T shirt and v dark navy or black). First made fronts and backs separately, and sewed a little strap across front with embroidery floss. Then sewed them on machine inside out, turned out and part stufffed. Because this was slightly stretchy, I could pull these on over the bottom of the legs, and buttonholed them to the top legs. Finished stuffing them .
• Attached the legs by hand inside the bottom of the trunk, raw edge of trunk over the legs, finished stuffing trunk and sewed up the middle.
• Made her some bloomers. Used the trunk pattern rectangle folded in half to make a pattern, and aded a curve, added a bit of height to top and bottom. Cut out two pieces on the fold of the white T shirt material. Sewed the inside leg seams on the machine, reversed one and put inside the other, sewed the crutch seams (by hand) then added lace. (Ideally I should have added the lace before doing inside leg seam)
• Pulled on over doll, covering the trunk to leg joins. Tacked it to her waist.
• Added a bow to her hair. Would have liked to add a necklace but have given away all my tiny jewellery bits.

In this picture you can see the bottom of her bloomers.

So that was the job done. She fitted nicely inside the bag.

Sadly, as soon as Rose opened her present, she announced she no longer likes dolls. So I don't think the doll is destined to be her favourite toy. 

But hopefully she'll enjoy using the bag. And that was so easy and quick, I'm sure i will be making it again, perhaps in a larger size.