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The nice thing about making a purse out of a placemat is that the purse will already be lined so you don’t have to worry about lining it. There are many cool placemats out there with beading, sequins, cool retro designs, etc. See what you can find. The possibilities are endless.

Supplies:
placemat
hot glue gun
sewing machine
coordinating thread
purse handles
ribbon
Optional: fur trim, embellishments

1. Pick out a decorative placemat. Try not to have one with wording on it since you will fold it in half. The one I chose was a red faux velvet.

2. Fold the placemat in half with the right sides facing each other. Pin the sides in place.

3. You can either sew a straight line down each edge where the pins are or you can sew on a curve to give your bag a different shape. This is what I did for this project. Make sure you sew back and forth when you start so you get a strong stitch as this is where most of your wear and tear can happen.

4. After you sew the sides trim.

5. Turn purse right side out.

6. . Cut pieces of coordinating ribbon and thread them through your purse handles.


7. Pin them in place and sew them back and forth a few times to get a really strong stitch so the handles can handle the weight of the contents of your purse.

At this point you can be done or you can embellish it further with bows, fur, decorative trim, tassels, etc.

With the bows I just hot glued them on. You can also hot glue any trim or decorative tasssels on as well.

How easy was that!? If you make one I want to see the pictures!

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7 Comments

  1. I saw something similar on Martha Stewart many months back! Cute! I think you just inspired a birthday gift for my friend…I’ve been wanting to make something but not sure what…I even have some purse handles in my closet that I’ve never used…we’ll see what happens!

  3. Ok, I just looked at it again, a little more closely…I could totally do that. I’m gonna be keeping my eye out at target for those end cap sales with some cute, and cheap placemats.

    I’ve made throw pillows out of placemats before, but this purse idea is way cuter!

  4. i would have never thought of that! i love living vicariously through you, making all sorts of things! I also like shannon’s idea about the throw pillow. i think i have fears of sewing from when I was young, the thread always breaking and having such trouble threading the needle.

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