Re-lining a Purse / National Handbag Day

A new client came to me with a favorite purse, now desperately in need of a new lining.  "My dad says I should get a new one, but I like this one," she said.  I am very much in favor of mending instead of buying new, especially when the item in question is good quality.  This purse is a sturdy leather job, with the leather all intact, though a bit dried out.  The lining though... what a wreck!  I said I could replace it, and she was delighted. 

Sad, torn lining on a Hobo bag

"The original has pockets... if it's not too much trouble, I'd like at least one pocket," she said.  And "You don't have to replace the linings on the smaller side pockets, if you don't want.  They're not torn..."

It's funny: if someone has a list of requirements, I meet them, but if someone gives me a bare minimum and tells me that they're fine with "just" that, I always want to exceed their expectations.  I want them to be pleasantly surprised. 

My assignment:

• Replace the main compartment lining.
• Incorporate at least one interior pocket.
  

What I did:

• Condition the leather of the exterior bag
• Replace the main compartment lining with a new one... 
• ... featuring several pockets, just like the old.
• Replace the other two compartment linings.
• Put a new leather zipper pull on the main zipper, to replace a missing one. 

THE ORIGINAL LINING

First I made a quick diagram of the way the lining originally was, so I could replace it with the same configuration.  My client would already be familiar with this layout, so why change? 

INSIDE FRONT

INSIDE BACK

Then I unpicked the stitches sewing the lining to the top of the bag, next to the main zipper.  I was pleased to discover that the zipper was sewn on the leather separately, so I could remove the lining without having the zipper fall out:

Some interesting construction details came to light as I disassembled things. 

Here we can see that the seam allowance of the bottom of the lining is tacked to the seam allowance of the bottom of the bag.  This means you can turn the bag upside down and shake all the contents out without the lining ballooning out.  This also means that if you have something heavy or textured in the bag, you can pull it out without dragging the lining out, too.  A nice, thoughtful detail! 

And here we can see the top of the interior pockets are reinforced first by interfacing the base material, then by placing a ribbon behind that and sewing through all the layers at once. 

This is the old zippered pocket, which serves as a template for the new zippered pocket.  I also salvage and re-use the zipper, though it needs a good washing first.  There's something gluey on its teeth preventing it from working properly, and lots of grime; Fels Naptha in the bathroom sink does the trick, and the zipper once again zips smoothly. 

A brief note about zippers, especially re-used zippers: use safety pins to hold both edges together while you're working with them!  Otherwise, you're likely to zip the zipper head right off if you're not careful!  If you do zip the zipper head right off, you are left with a closed zipper and no head.  Then you can't get the head back on at the top (where it just came off); you need to pull the zipper teeth apart, and take the head  around to the bottom of the zipper and feed it back on.  This is annoying but not as difficult as it sounds. 

CONDITIONING THE LEATHER

Once the cloth was all away, it seemed a shame not to condition the leather.  So I did.  First I took a damp cloth and wiped the exterior to get excess dirt off.  Once that was done, it looked a little better already.  I let it dry overnight, and the next day took SAS Soft Leather Cream to it. The cream is in the neutral color, so it doesn't interfere with the black of the bag.  To put it on, I used the sponge applicator to swab the cream in circles, getting in all the creases and seams, and paying extra attention to the most dry areas.  Then I let it dry, and buffed it with a soft cloth.  I repeated the treatment once more because I thought the leather needed it.  Then I washed out the sponge applicator and let it dry completely before putting the cream away.  (That's not on the directions on the box, but it is a good idea all the same!) 

THE NEW LINING

Using the old lining as a template, I cut out a new lining using a black and white fabric my client approved.  It's a printed cotton, and only after I cut it did I realize that the nap of the printed pattern is not on grain, so when I cut the fabric on grain the pattern ended up slightly slanted.  Grr.  So I slanted the pieces just a little, and proceeded following the nap, because I wanted it to look nice when the purse was done.  Had I been making a garment, I may have chosen to follow the grain instead of the nap, but since a purse lining doesn't need to hang just so, I opted for the visually pleasing option. 

Speaking of visually pleasing, I quickly found that the busy print had a blurring effect on my vision, like I was looking at a Magic Eye illusion!  I decided this needed to be addressed so my client wouldn't end up staring blankly into the depths of her purse wondering if she had a pencil in there or a 3D image of a cow.  So I rummaged through my stash and selected a baby-blue contrast fabric to give definition to the details of the pockets and zipper.  (I had considered re-sewing the Hobo Original label onto the new lining, but once I picked blue for contrast it made the red label look bad, so I nixed that plan, too.) 

Here's a picture showing the construction of one of the interior pockets.  I cut two rectangles (with rounded bottom corners), interfaced one, and put a bit of blue piping at the top to define the edge.  Then I sewed the other three edges right sides together, turned them right side out, and top-stitched the top edge together, enclosing the raw edges of both layers and the piping. 

I did two pockets like that.  One pocket also got a plastic ID window, salvaged from the original, which looks nifty. Wanna see how I did the plastic ID window? Click through! 

Before sewing the pockets on the lining, I prepared the wrong side of the lining fabric similar to how it was done on the original (interfacing, reinforcing fabric at corners of pockets), then sewed the pockets on as patches, going through all layers.

And here's how I put in the zippered pocket.  There's a lot indicated in the first picture, so click to zoom up if you want! 

Step 1:
To insert the interior zippered pocket, I first made the pocket in the pretty blue fabric, abutting the blue right up to the edges of the zipper.  The zipper is top-stitched, and the sides and bottom of the blue bag are open (so not a bag quite yet).  I interfaced the lining fabric where I wanted the opening to go, then sketched the opening , then cut the opening. 

Step 2:
Next, I folded the edges of the opening over and ironed them, creating a nice window to frame the zipper. 

Step 3:
Here's the pocket sewn in place!  The line of top-stitching runs around the outside of the frame from Step 2.  Remember how I said the bottom of the blue bag was open at sides and bottom?  That is necessary so I can do this top-stitching step without sewing the bag closed!  I stitched the top edge through all the layers, then opened the back layer out of the way and stitched the bottom edge. 

Step 4:
I next had to close the blue pocket.  Folding the lining fabric out of the way showed the edge of the pocket and the little triangle of fabric from the window.  I sewed the side seams in line with this edge (sewing only the blue fabric), and sewed the bottom shut as well.  This left a pocket of blue fabric with an opening in the black and white fabric to access it.  The blue fabric peeks through very nicely. 

the lining fabric folded out of the way

CLOSE UP showing the little triangle from when I cut the window.

Sewing the side of the blue pocket

Finally, I used a few hand-stitches to tack the bottom of the blue pocket to the lining (where it was hidden under the outer patch pocket), so it wouldn't turn inside out. 

Besides the main compartment, there are two other pockets in the purse.  I call one the "gun pocket" because it is like an underarm holster when you carry the purse, accessible with the left hand when the purse is on the right shoulder.  (Somehow I doubt that's what my client uses it for...!)  I call the other a "ticket pocket" because it is about the size of a bus ticket, and is on the inside of the purse, next to the skin, so you could whip out a bus ticket without opening the purse or rummaging around.  (The pockets don't really need names, but it makes it easier to reference them!) 

The "gun pocket" is the long horizontal one.

The "ticket pocket" is the shorter one. See how the gun pocket is sewn to the ticket pocket to prevent the longer one from twisting around or balling up in the purse.

Un-sewing the gun pocket yielded an annoying surprise: the zipper and pocket were applied in one step, so un-sewing the pocket made the zipper fall out!  I put pins in to forestall the loss, and sewed the new pocket lining on by hand because the machine couldn't get in there. 

The ticket pocket, on the other hand, was glued as well as sewn, and I had to peel the original away, cut the new one to fit in the gap, interface the edge of the new one so it wouldn't fray as I worked it, and hand-sew the new one in the same stitch holes as the old one.  At least I could machine-sew the pocket edges to close them up! 

FINISHING STEPS

One element of this project puzzled me throughout: The top edge of the lining was folded over and top-stitched to the top edge of the purse, so clearly that had to be done before the lining was closed up into a bag.  Yet when I examined the original lining, it looked like it was sewn inside out and then turned, which could not be done after top-stitching the top.  And remember how the bottom of the lining was sewn to the bottom of the leather bag?  That had to happen before the top-stitching, but if it did, how was the top-stitching done on a closed bag and closed lining?  In other words, I had no idea how the thing went together!  I wish I could say I figured it out, but the truth is that I simply found my own way. 

Here's the original bag lining.  See how the side seams are sewn straight down, the bottom straight across, and then the bottom is turned up and the fold is sewn that makes the bag a little rectangular at the base?  (The leather outer bag is sewn the same way.) 

So with my new lining, I sewed the side seams down, the bottom only partly across (leaving a big un-sewn bit in the middle), and then folded and sewed the bottom up as in the original.  The hole in the center bottom is critical.

Here's how I pinned the folded over lining-top to the combined zipper and leather of the bag-top. 

It just fit... go me! 

And here's how I top-stitched the thing!  I took off the bottom of my machine so it had the skinny sleeve arm instead of the table as its base, and put that through the hole in the bottom of the bag lining.  Then I sewed the tube, rotating as I went. 

With the bag inside out, you can see the raw edges at the bottom.  I folded them under and pressed them in preparation for hand-finishing... 

... then I hand-stitched the seam allowance of the lining to the seam allowance of the exterior, so the lining will stay put. 

Finally, I used slip-stitches to close the hole at the bottom, and turned the bag right side out.  The lining was done! 

Later, at the Mill End Store, I bought a tiny scrap of leather from their Bargain Room (69 cents), and used that to put a new zipper pull on the zipper for the main compartment. 

NATIONAL HANDBAG DAY

Did you know today, October 10th, is National Handbag Day?  Starting in 2013 by Purseblog, National Handbag Day is meant to be a day to recognize the purse or handbag as an important part of daily life, social expression, and art.  As far as I can tell, this holiday is mostly recognized by retailers of purses, purse aficionados, and people who like to compile lists of holidays.  Until recently, I wouldn't have put myself in any of those categories!  But I'm reminded of a favorite haiku by Teiji...

Hearing its name
I looked at it anew
this flowering weed.
-TEIJI

When we consider a thing common, we pay no attention, but when we realize that someone else pays attention to it, we look closer and see its uniqueness.  In the course of re-lining my client's purse, I "looked at it anew". 

On a personal front, I came to appreciate how much the purse was needed and used by my client, and I respected her desire to have it mended instead of replaced.  How long had she been loyally clinging to it even as the inside shredded to bits, refusing to buy a new one when this one had served so well?  And when she heard I could sew, she immediately commissioned me!  She knew what she wanted.  To her, that purse must have been an ally in her daily life, a faithful servant, an old friend. 

I understand the hunt for the right purse.  I only ever have one at a time, but I am picky about my choice; it's the one part of my outfit I carry every day, and so I place the greatest demands upon it to serve my needs and express my personality.  For instance, I reject fake leather ones because I hate the way the polyvinyl chloride becomes gummy and falls apart with use.  Even real leather purses will sometimes have thin lines of the fake stuff around the raw edges of a strap (presumably to cover the unfinished side?), which peel off and look gross before long.  Yuck!  I don't like big purses because then I end up carrying too much.  (My client's Hobo bag is far too big for me!)  I don't like floppy purses because I can't sit them neatly on tables or the floor.  I like the ones with little metal feet to stand on.  I like chains for handles because they don't get grubby.  I don't like designer purses with logos or someone else's initials all over them.  I feel like a fraud carrying status symbols which I don't know how to interpret.  I like purses that open and close with a little click noise; they feel tidy and prim.  I like over-the-arm purses because they feel classy, but I carry a cross-body purse for the winter, because it's easier to use over coats.  I buy all my purses at thrift stores, never new.

As a ubiquitous part of daily life, a purse has stuff to say to us or about us.  Are we tidy or messy?  Do we have the confidence to carry little, or are we prepared for every contingency?  Do we compartmentalize, or throw everything together?  Are we gregarious or parsimonious?  Do we make a statement with color and textile, or opt for a neutral option?  Are we practical or showy?  And we read the messages of the purses of others.  So it's worthwhile to take care of a purse, and give it a little love when it needs it.  My client's purse feels different to me now that it's re-lined.  Before it seemed like a tired workhorse, now it's well-used but equally well-loved.  Even better, the new lining has personality, since the owner picked it out as her favorite. 

On a professional front, I saw how much engineering and thought went into its design, learned a new way of squaring off a bottom of a bag, and failed to solve the mystery of how they enclosed everything using sewing machines only, when I had to resort to slip-stitches at the end!  So Happy National Handbag day to my client, and to me!