Vietnamese Pouch/ Bag tutorial

This is my first sewing tutorial. Been looking at people's tutorials and thought
 that I should give something back to the sewing community, especially the beginners.
So here it is!

Material: 

1. Fabric A  measuring 17" x 14" ( for me, the chocolate polka dot)

2. Fabric B measuring 17" x 21" ( the extra 7" of  fabric will be the handle.

    For me, it's the plain cotton linen)

3. a bundle of white rope to wrap around the handle( refer to picture above)

4. Optional : 2 cute buttons and some lace.

Step 1: Before sewing anything together, you might want to use UHU glue to glue all four sides of both the fabrics so that your bag has a tidier look. Remember to fold the side from the right(outer) side to the inner side. The picture below shows the OPPOSITE of the correct way and I had to pry the folds. 

Step 2:  Then, sew along the sides that you have glued to enforce the folds. 

Step 3: Put fabric A and B together, with the WRONG(inner) sides facing OUT and sew 3"(see white line below) on each side and along the bottom of the fabrics as shown in the diagram: 

           

Step 4: Then comes the part where I blundered the most - the bottom. I nearly gave up but when I figured it out, it was very easy! Just fold the bottom of the pouch and smooth it out, making it look like a rectangle, then sew along the lines like in the photo. 

Step 5: Flip over to the outer side, sew along the lines to make the angle sharper, indicated in the photo. 

Step 6: Decoration time! I hand sewed lace and buttons, then stitched 'Amy's shopping bag' on it. 

Amy's my mum. 

Step 7: Sew the upper border of fabric A to upper border of fabric B. 

Step 8: Handle : Clip the ends of the intended handle with cloth pegs( large ones) 

and start wrapping it with the white rope. I tied a little ribbon around it when it's done

Voila! You're done! 

This pouch/bag is made based on a bag I bought in a shop near Petaling Street. The shop sells all kinds of Vietnam products which are adorable! I made this bag for my mum's birthday and she loves it. hehe...The original one is mine and I use it to put my Moleskine and sketching stationery. It can be used as a handbag too. It's handy for family/friend gatherings when you just want to put your wallet and hand phone. 

I hope my tutorial is clear enough for the beginners, especially the bottom part where I don't have a clear picture to show how it's done. I guess you'll reach there by trial and error no matter what. I was met with error for nearly every trial so it's ok to make mistakes. 

Please tell me if my instructions weren't clear enough and if you make a bag based on this tutorial, I'd love to see it!