Enlarging A Free Pattern To Make A Scrappy Purse

      I love this tutorial for this little Friendship Bag.  Tutorial here.  But the finished Friendship Bag is so small it's only good for gift giving.  I wanted to make it bigger so I could use it as an open purse.  I increased the size of my strips from 1 1/2" x 5" to 2 3/4" x 8" to make this bag bigger.  It's now the perfect size.  All the stuff I carry for local errand running fits in here and since I didn't make a closure for the top, it's all easy to get to.  There are no inside or outside pockets, it's just a boxy, scrappy bag.  I love it.  I used fusible fleece instead of batting, fat quarters for the strips and handles, and some batik yardage that I had for the bottom and the lining.  I also put some fusible fleece in the center part of the handles to make them softer on my hands.   I worked on this for about 2 1/2 hours that includes ironing fabric and cutting.  This was a really easy pattern to enlarge.  My bag measures 12" long x 7 3/4" tall x 5" wide.  This was fun to make.