Success!!! The picture below is me holding the bag, it's actually not resting on the sofa but being held by the handles. It's flat enough for me! I had the lace pieces all ironed and cut but when I finished putting the handles back in a new spot, it was fine. I figured, I'd better not mess with success and play around with the lace!
Thanks for all your help.
Paper Princess, I hope you notice that I took your advice and totally reinforced those handles! I made them attached by 2", did the square stitching and the X stitching too. Then I zig zagged the bottom of each handle a zillion times. They aren't going anywhere!
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