Do you want a quick & easy and FREE purse pattern? You'll love this!

Do you want a quick & easy and FREE purse pattern? You'll love this!

Purses!  Purses! PURSES!

The Bia Bag by Maria Wallen from Pink Pony Design is a great project that's nice and easy, and will only take you a night or two (depending if you make your own straps or not). (Here's a teaser at one of the bags, the rest are further down!)

quick and easy purse bia bag

Last October, I was determined to make all my nieces and nephew quilts for Christmas. That would have been a whopping seven quilts! (Does this happen to anyone else? Sometimes I think we underestimate how long a quilt can take, or how much free time we can scrounge!)

I managed to finish two quilts, but then it hit; there was no way I could make the other five in time for the Holidays. Plus, the five older nieces would have needed bigger quilts which was a much more daunting task. So, I gave the two smaller quilts to the smaller ones. They were happy!

 

niece and nephew finished quilts

My niece and nephew enjoying their new quilt!

 

Back to the drawing board. 

I really wanted to make something that they would truly love. Making things for teenage girls can be a tough task (because almost everything is so not cool) so I had my challenge cut out for me. Thankfully, I had some Cotton + Steel, Tula Pink and Stof fabric in my stash which was going to work perfectly, and maybe just "hip" enough for the girls.

A while back while I was searching for a new purse pattern, I came across the Bia Bag by Maria Wallen. Such a cute purse, and best of all it was quick and easy; I could make them in time!

I put together some fabric groupings from my stash and added some solids.  At this point I didn’t know which niece would get what one so I had a nice variety and made sure every purse was unique. 

My sister-in-law who is new to quilting invited me over to her house on a Friday night to sew up a storm together. For the purse, I cut every piece out, interfaced them and sewed together every piece (exterior and lining but not putting them together) in one night! I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do for the straps just yet so at 2 AM I called it quits and went home. 

A few days later I was excited to finish up the first purse. The straps took me a little longer, but finishing the bag itself was super fast. Then, I cut out every piece of the pattern for the remaining four bags (plus the interfacing) interfaced them, then separated them into labeled piles. The following night I sewed every pocket, zipper and embellishment to each panel. The following Saturday I put them all together, one by one by one!

I took a much needed break after my factory line of purses was completed :)

I was very happy with the way they turned out, they looked gorgeous! I put each one into a gift bag, headed over to see my nieces, and gave them a little speech about how I wasn’t sure who would like each of the different purses. I said they could switch if they wanted, but they loved the bags they were given! Success!

 

bia bag purse

bia bag pursebia bag purse

bia bag purse

The finished purses! Zipper on one side, flap on the other.

In the pictures above you can see on one side they have the zipper, and the other side has the flap. Unfortunately we forgot to take pictures of the rest zipper-side, and they've already been gifted - but I'm sure you can visualize it :)

Below is a great inside shot of the purses. They have pockets for makeup, keys, whatever!  

bia bag insidebia bag insidebia bag insidebia bag insidebia bag inside

The insides of the purses. Lots of room for things!

 

Do you want to try your hand at making a super easy purse for yourself or a gift? You can get the FREE pattern for the Bia Bag here. I used a bunch of Bella Solids, a little bit of Grunge Basics, some Cotton + Steel Honeymoon, and a dash of Zen Chic. Not to mention some random green and pink fabric from my stash!

Love the bags? Be sure to share this post or let me know in the comments! If you end up making your own Bia Bag, I'd love to see what you can come up with. :)  Have fun! ~Alicia

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2 comments

I cannot access the pattern. how do I get the instructions.

Ruth Taylor

Absolutely gorgeous Bia Bags! I can’t stop staring at them, such a pretty and happy lineup! ❀
And thank you so very much for all the kind words about the pattern, I’m so glad you liked it and found it easy to follow!

The quilts where lovely too! Such lucky recipients of all these lovely gifts! I’m so glad to hear that the girls liked their beautiful bags!

Maria - Pink Pony Design

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