- 1 placemat
- 1 pair of handles
- fabric, ribbon and trim to embellish
Embellish the front of your placemat on the right side of the placemat. You'll be able to tell the right side as either the side with no care tag or the side that the ends are not hemmed toward. Since the bottom of your bag will be 3" deep, stay within the top 7 1/2" inches of the placemat. Otherwise, you could lose some of your embellishment when you sew up the purse. Also, don't forget you'll be using a 1/2" seam allowance on the sides. Let your creativity go nuts on this part. If you have an embroidery machine, you can really create some fun patterns. Otherwise, sew on ribbons, buttons, jewels, or fabric appliques.
Fold placemat in half with right sides together. After you fold the placemat, you should not see your embellishment.
Stitch 1/2" from edges on both sides. Make sure you backstitch (hit reverse on your machine) at the top and the bottom.
This forms the bottom of the purse. Take one side seam you just sewed and place it on top with the top of the bag toward you (the bag is shown upside down). Force the bag to flatten with the bottom of the seam forming the top of the triangle. Stitch across the triangle as shown, 1 1/2" from the point of the triangle, which will make a 3" stitch. Again, make sure you backstitch. It's too difficult to open up the seam allowance, so just turn the seam allowance to one side or the other. Do the same on the other seam.
Turn bag right side out. Your bag is now basically together except for handles and closure. Measure across the top of your bag to find the center and attach your closures and handles or attachments accordingly. For instance, if your handle needs to attach 5" apart, measure 2 1/2" from the center on each side.
- If you would like to change out the handles on the purse, attach them with some sort of a tie (either ribbon or fabric). Just make sure the holes on the handles are the same distance apart. Then you can change the color or shape of the handles as you desire.
- If you want to just buy one set of handles, you can move them from bag to bag as you desire. If the handle has removable hardware, you can sew double-folded tabs on the bag and remove the hardware to change handles.
- You can also use ribbon or cotton webbing as handles. A shoulder strap needs to be about 26" long, while a handle for hand-holding can be as little as 8" long. Don't forget you can embellish the cotton webbing with striped or jacquard ribbon.
- Experiment with different constructions- make the bottom narrower or wider which will make your purse slightly taller or shorter, respectively.
- You can also sew the purse up on the outside, so seam allowance is showing. You can then sew a piece of bias tape or ribbon to the seam for embellishment.