Place Mat into Purse

If you use this tutorial, I'd love to see your creation! 

Feel free to post it to the Handmade Mommy Tutorials Flickr Pool.

Walking though Target the other day, I passed by these adorable placemats on clearance for less than $3 apiece and just had to get one. Feeling inspired by the placemat clutch tutorial over at Happy Together, I took it home and then waited to figure out what to do with it. It didn't take long. After a little work, it is now a Christmas gift for my girlfriend's 5 year old! Yep, still working on Christmas in 100+ degree weather...weird.

So, here is a little tutorial for turning a placemat into a little girl's purse.

First, you need a place mat, of course. :) I picked this one because it had the super cute trim at either end (and, of course, because it was on clearance). Make sure to prewash your place mat before doing anything.

Next, fold your place mat end to end, right sides together, and pin the sides together. Sew close to the edge, about 1/4" of possible.

When sewing the sides, I stopped about 1 1/2" from the top. One, it's really thick for my little sewing machine. Two, it gives it more of a grown up feel to have the opening at each corner.

Fold your handle material over about 1/2" at each end and pin to the inside equidistant from either side. I used a leftover piece of grosgrain ribbon because my friend loves grosgrain and it was the right color - highly technical process.

Sew the handles to the purse using 2 lines to keep it in place securely and avoid fraying if using ribbon. I made sure to use green top thread and pink bobbin thread so it coordinated on both the inside and outside.
And, here is the finished purse, little gift label and all!
Now I just have to sit on it for 4 months... Pin It