You do attach them to the front of the fabric so when you sew in the lining, the handles and the loop will come out the way they should. Once you turn your purse then top stitch around the top then your handles and loop a reinforced at the same time. You'll be fine. See what you do after you have the purse and lining done, you leave the lining wrong side and the purse right side out and then you put the purse inside the lining and then you sew around the top and then after that is done you pull the bag out through the opening in the bottom of the lining and then you push the lining down inside the purse and then you can hand stitch or maching stitch the opening closed and make a hard bottom for it . Good luck, Huggies, Fay