Harry Potter Spell Concealed Carry Purse - Modified Laney By Swoon

Time for another concealed carry purse!  This one is a little smaller than the last one, and a totally different shape!  Based on the free Laney pattern by Swoon, I had to make some major modifications to get a zippered pocket in, plus there are more pockets inside and outside and a magnetic snap closure.

Front View

Back

"Concealed" pocket opened up- more like discrete pocket

The fabric is more Spoonflower goodness!  The black was not as dark as I hoped it would be, but the fabric still ended up looking very cool!  I also added on a little line art embroidery, but since we didn't want to lose any of the awesomeness of the fabric, the embroidery blends in and is a surprise that catches your eye when the light hits it.

Embroidery pattern from www.bobbinforappliques.com

The front of the purse has a phone slip pocket, for easy access.

Inside are 3 slip pockets, of various sizes.

The entire purse is made with Flex Foam and that gives it a LOT more structure than the pattern calls for.  It also works to hide the shape of the gun when it is being carried, without adding a lot of weight to the purse.  The back 'concealed' pocket was a bit tricky this time.  I tried to take pictures to show how I put it together, but I'm pretty sure there was a point when some magic happened and suddenly it was a pocket.  My camera missed that 'magic' moment....

Also, all that thickness made my sewing machine do wobbly stitching as I tried to topstitch, so I gave up and added bias tape edging.  I think it really makes the bag pop, so I'm going to pretend that was my plan the whole time.  ;)

Here's the best I can describe how I made the pocket - First, I cut 2 extra lining fabric pieces to match the middle section.  Use a zipper that will end up at least 1/2" (or whatever your seam allowance is) away from the top and bottom.  I put the zipper face down on the outside piece, lining up the edge of the zipper about 1/4" in from the right edge of the center panel fabric.  Then I layered one of the lining pieces on top of that, right sides together.  Using a zipper foot, I stitched close to the zipper, along the entire length of the zipper.  I moved the zipper in from the edge so that I could match the seam allowance, so you may need to fiddle a bit to figure out how much to move it in.

Right sides together - back center panel and lining - wash away double sided zipper tape is amazing!

Zipper edge in the seam allowance

Then I flipped it right side out and ironed along that edge.  I waited to top-stitch until I finished it all, in case I needed to adjust anything.

the zipper is attached to the back center panel, note it doesn't go all the way to the top

Make sure your fabric is out of the way, and then put the other lining piece face up on the mat (or table, or whatever you are working on).  Line up the bottom of the zipper with the lining piece, in enough so that you can sew the seam allowance without hitting the zipper teeth or trapping them in the seam allowance.  I did this with the zipper open, then closed it to make sure the lining pieces matched up. 

 Place your side panel face down over the zipper piece, matching it to the lining.  Only sew along the zipper, which should leave at least 1/2" unsewn on the top and bottom.  Open up the side and iron the fabric away from the zipper.  Check that your zipper is working right, and top stitch it if you are happy.  Then you will need to sew the side and middle panel together, just above and below the zipper.  You may have to angle the stitching a little so you don't hide the zipper pull.

Side panel ready to be sewn - with flex foam fused onto it

Pull the pocket fabric so that it meets on the other side of the center panel and baste around the 3 sides without a zipper with a 1/8 - 1/4" seam (so that it will be hidden in the final seam construction).  Attach the other side panel according to the pattern and make sure that the pocket is caught in that seam.  You should be able to unzip the pocket and check that there are no gaps for things to fall through.  Continue on with the pattern as written.

Checking for gun fit with my 'to scale' Lego model

I hope that helps someone, and if you have questions, please ask away!  I can try to describe it better, but as I said, there was some magic happening!

Discrete zipper, mostly blends in.  Zipper is from Emmaline Bags, a longer zipper pull and very sturdy zipper!

Fully open - half my arm fits inside!