Placemat Purse
July 11th, 2007 by Jen LoveI have been wanting to try this for a while- taking a cute fabric placemat and turning it into a purse. My first one must have been pretty successful since I sold it to a friend at the craft fair before the doors opened and it was so easy to make!
Shopping for a placemat is the first fun part. At most places you can buy them individually and usually for only a few dollars. I have even seen some cute placemats at the dollar store. The first one I made had a white background, brown trim, and brown flowers embroidered on it. All I did was turn it with right sides together and sew up the sides, gusset the bottom, and added handles. I had gotten several pairs of wooden and bamboo handles at the craft store for about $3. I found brown corduroy fabric to match and sewed a piece about 6″ long to the inside of the bag on the front and back, slipping the handle inside the corduroy piece and folding it over before sewing. The placemat was sturdy and had a solid brown fabric on the back so I did not need to add a lining. The only thing I wish I had done differently was to sew the handles a little closer to the bag or make a wider handle strap so the handles would not feel too loose in the strap.
These are a few of the other placemats that I have bought to try out. I am working now on making a paper crocheted placemat into a purse, which I think will look great for summer. (After Heather’s tutorials I may even be able to do the crocheting myself one of these days too!) I will post it as soon as I am done!
July 11th, 2007 at 4:01 am
That is such a cute idea!!!!
July 11th, 2007 at 6:47 am
i love that placemat on the bottom with the flowers!
July 11th, 2007 at 7:34 am
Hi! This is adorable! I gotta try it…as soon as I figure out how to “gusset”.
July 11th, 2007 at 8:51 am
I absolutely love it! I recently made a tote bag out of two dish towels.
July 11th, 2007 at 9:00 am
Can you show a picture of the inside of the bag where you sewed the two sides together? And how do you “gusset”?
July 11th, 2007 at 9:31 am
What an awesome design! I can’t wait to try this — I always look at placemats when I venture into Cost Plus or Pier One, but I’d never buy them for my table because they’re too expensive and too easy to make myself. But now I can get just one, and make good use of it. Thanks!
July 11th, 2007 at 9:31 am
Kellie & Heidi,
The squared bottom is really simple to do but tricky to explain in words. I tried in my post about the “Simple Makeup Bags”, toward the end, so you can check that out. But I will post soon about how to do this “gussetting” since it has changed the way I make all my bags with pictures to better explain the progress!
Heidi, I just folded the bag in half inside out and sewed down the right and left sides. Then turned it back out. It was already lined with a nice, stiffer, dark fabric, as most placemats are. I’d like to show that bag but I sold it so I’ll try to update this when I get the next one done.
Thanks!
Jen @ craftydaisies.com
July 11th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
oh how adorable. i cant wait to try my own.
July 12th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
You are going to have such cute placemats! The handles on the finished one are so cute.
July 14th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
That is adorable. I can’t wait to try to make one!
July 15th, 2007 at 5:06 am
These are wonderful! You’ve inspired me to go placemat shopping! They look so quick and easy, yet the results are charming.
July 17th, 2007 at 1:46 am
Love this bag. I have found some placemats that I will “try” and turn into a great purse like yours. I even found the matching tablecloth. Stay tuned……
March 31st, 2011 at 7:25 pm
And what of the more intlligent society-aware professionals in the game, the Beckhams and Rio Ferdinands.