Seaming on a purse

I’m finishing up a purse, and having a wee bit of trouble with the mattress stitch. I thought I understood it, but when I tried it out I found it a bit difficult to see the right place to put the needle in. I’m sure I could figure it out eventually, but I was wondering if anyone knew if using a sewing machine to sew up the sides would have the same effect. This is my first project, and I’m scared that if I sew the sides w/ a machine I’ll mess it up. :shock:

Also, the purse needs a lining, and that I will do with a sewing machine. My question, though, is if its better to put the lining in before or after I seam up the sides of the purse? I also need to put things like dowels (for handles) and ribbon on the outside, and I’m not sure if theres some particular order that needs to be kept.

Thanks!!

(btw, the purse is not felted)

Hi–

I have no idea about machine sewing the sides together - do you by any chance have swatches you could try this on first?

Here are links on lining, which I would think you would want to do after the purse is assembled:
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=32204.msg9268#msg9268

http://www.zibibboisgood.com/more/sueetlining.html

how to do lining and handles:
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/cr_needlework_knitting/article/0,1789,HGTV_3263_4026487,00.html

http://www.helloknitty.com/pdfs/Lining.pdf

THANK YOU so much!! Those really helped, you’re a lifesaver.

It’s funny that I found this forum by finding the following video regarding the mattress stitch. It saved me a trip to my local knitting shop. This might help out too.

http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/videos//bas-tech-more/mattress-stitch.mpg