Tutorial: How to add a zipper and a lining to a crocheted purse

This tutorial belongs to my pattern "Crocheted purse with zipper and lining". I wanted to keep the pattern itself printerfriendly, so that is why the photo tutorial of the last part of the pattern can be found here. Soon, very soon there will also be a tutorial on how to add only a lining to something crocheted.
First off all, assemble your crocheted or knitted bag, purse, tote of anything you want to have a zipper and/or lining. Buy a zipper that is 1 to 2 inches longer than your opening really is.

Adding the zipper

Take your zipper, open it up and pin it in your opening. In the top picture, my zipper thingy is at the right side, and the end (or beginning) of the zipper is in the left corner. You should have the extra amount of the zipper hanging in your purse.

Here you can see how I have pinned it. At Because this purse has a flap I pinned the front normally, but at the back I really pinned at the back. All the heads of the pins are behind the flap.

Start sewing your zipper at the start of the zipper and continue to sew in in the round. Make tiny stitches, making sure you really sew the crocheted fabric to the zipper fabric. Also, make sure you sew a bit below the teeth of the zipper. It is possible to sew the zipper with the sewing machine, but I prefer to do it by hand.

Adding the lining

Measure your fabric and note these measurements. Before cutting the fabric you need to add a seam allowance to all sides. In centimeters it is normally 1.5 cm or in inches 0.5 inch.

My purse measured 8.5 cms in height and 18 cms in width so I added approx. 3 cms to both measurements. I cut a piece of fabric of 11 cm in height and 21 cm in width.

Here we have the fabric. Fold the fabric in half and place right sides together.

Take your fabric to your sewing machine and stitch the fabric halves together with 1.5 cm seam allowance on both sides.

Clip corners bottom corners (at the fold).

Press open the seams and fold over the seam allowance at the top of the lining. Press.

Pin the lining in place, making sure you pin the fabric with a bit of distance to the zipper teeth to avoid catching of the fabric whilst using the zipper.

Here is a close up of the pinning. I am keeping a distance of about 2 mm to the zipper teeth.

Stitch the fabric to the zipper fabric with a slip stitch. Hide all threads, clip excess yarn/threads.

And here you have it! A nice lined purse! I think it looks so nice and professional. And very colourful. Have fun with the tutorial and if something is not clear or if I've forgot something, please do not hesitate to contact me.