Coin Purse Tutorial

Here you see the supplies lain out. fabrics of your choice, perhaps some interfacing and a zipper.

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The first thing I did was to put interfacing on my fabric of choice, because it was rather thin and 'alive', so it made it easier to work with that way. And the purse will be more firm rather than slouchy.

Draw the pattern on the fabric and cut it out. Both on the outer fabric and the lining. I cut the outer fabric out first, the pinned it to the lining and cut the lining after the outer fabric.

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The Pieces of fabric cut out (hope you can see my white shiny lining) and a zipper.

It's truly amazing how simple this purse is. And by the way - if you make the patter square instead of trapez-shaped as mine, you can get a perfectly flat sqaure purse. (Like the one with the skull and heaps of cats hairs on the first picture.. ;P)

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Now take one piece og outer fabric and one piece of lining. Pin it on the zipper like shown on the picture. (right side against right side with the zipper in between)

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Turn the two pieces of fabric, so that you see the right sides, and sew a stitch beside the zipper as shown. Use a thread that matches the fabric, or (like me) use a thread that compliments the fabric - a contrasting thread. (by the way, I've got a knack for colours at the moment.... I know it's not too goth'y of me, hehe)

Do the exact same on the other side of the zipper with the two other pieces of fabric.

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Now to the assembling.

Pin the outer fabric together, right side against right side, and the lining as well - right side against right side.

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The zipper should 'pop under' at the lining side like on the picture. Uh, and be SURE that you have opened the zipper!!!!! Otherwise you won't be able to turn it outside in again.

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Sew around the edges, and keep a small opening in the bottom part of the lining. This will be used for turning the purse outside in.

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Cut the corners, and trim the seam allowance at the sides at least. I didn't do it it at the bottom - no reason why, but it's not really necessary there. Only at the sides, otherwise it be all chunky by the zipper.

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Now fold the corners, so you get triangles as shown. Sew approximately 1,5 - 2 cm in, so you sew across the seam allowances. (hope you understand)

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It should look like this, and you should cut the excess seam allowance here too. (The triangles)

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This picture shows the purse being turned outside in. It looks just like a blob of fabrics though. hehe.

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Now it's turned outside in, and all you need to do is to close the little hole in the bottom of the lining. Put the seam allowance inside and pin it like shown.

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Sew as close to the edge as possible, and the purse is finished. It should look like this. :)

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Here you can see a couple of my purses - they're definitely good for gifts or keeping jewellery or anything you fance using them for. Lovely!

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Here's the pattern, by the way. I think the easiest way for you to get a hold of a hard copy of this is to right click the picture, and press 'show picture', and then print it without rescaling.

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