A Placemat Handbag Tutorial

Make a handbag fashion statement using a placemat and nylon straps.

Placemat handbags look stylish and expensive without having to be expensive. Made from commonly available placemats, they take little time to make and can be sewn whether you own a sewing machine or not. Pick out your placemat, your materials for your straps, and pull out your needle and thread to make an afternoon project you can reuse and enjoy for as long as you like.

Things You'll Need

• Placemat
• Thread
• Sewing Needle/Sewing Machine
• Nylon Straps

Instructions

1. Edge your placemat by stitching along any frayed edges. This is only necessary if your placemat is fringed in a way you do not like or you need to create seams. If your placemat already appears finished, then you can skip this step.

2. Fold your placemat in half with the side you want to show on the outside on the inside of the fold. This will make it so your sewed seams are on the inside.

3. Stitch your side seams closed 3/8ths of an inch from the edge. This will leave you with a little bit of overage on the inside, but keeps your seams from unraveling when pressure is applied because they are not right on the edge of the fabric. This produces a flat bag. Skip down to adding straps unless you want to make the bottom wider, allowing you to put more inside.

4. Widen the bottom. Turn your bag so that the corner is facing you and smooth down until it creates a point. Looking at the bag from above, you should see a triangle. Take your thread and stitch a straight line across your point. You want to make sure you put it at least one-eighth of an inch from the bottom to avoid fraying, but the further from the point you sew your line, the wider the bottom of your bag will be.Sew all the way across.

5. Press your bag. Turn your bag right side out and press your seams straight with a warm iron. This helps to set the bag's shape.

6. Add straps. You can make straps out of whatever you like, but nylon webbing is strong and simple to use. If you use nylon, be sure to melt the ends to insure it doesn't unravel. Pin the straps to the inside of the bag with straight pins, check to insure they match on both sides, and then sew them into place. First sew around in a square along the edges of the strap, then sew an "x" across the strap to secure the straps fully in place.

References

• Placemat Handbag Tutorial