Pillow Case Purse

Aug

2009

Give an orphaned pillowcase a new home — over your shoulder.

I got this idea from Martha Stewart. It took me 20 minutes to do and I am NOT a seamstress. I’ve made like 3 things on my sewing machine, so if I can do it, you can do it!

Materials Needed:
*1 pillowcase- KING size. I had some scrap material that I cut to the size of a standard pillowcase and the straps were way to short so the purse was short and stubby. I think the longer the pillowcase the better.

*Sewing machine

*Scissors

*Straight pins

Directions:

Trim 1/4 inch off the closed end, and cut the case in half on the diagonal.

Open up each triangle and fold over both slanted edges about 1/2 inch. Pin to secure.

Hem each slanted side. To avoid fraying, either fold over twice, use a zig zag stitch, or use pinking shears. (No need to hem the bottom just yet)

Place one pillowcase half inside the other, lining up bottom edges. Pin, and sew at front where fabrics overlap.

When you are done sewing the front side, if you were to unfold the fabric and it will look like this, but don’t unfold it- I am just showing you how it should be sewn!

Repeat on back side- pin and sew. When both sides are sewn, it will look like this- all hemmed except the bottom. (sorry, I cut off the bottom in this picture!)

Turn fabric inside out, pin and hem case’s cut bottom.

Turn case right side out, tie top ends into a knot, and you have a carefree summer bag!

Because my purse was so short, I decided to add some straps. If you use a king size pillow case, you shouldn’t have to do this, but Martha didn’t tell me to use a king size.(Thanks Martha.)

All I did for the straps were cut 2 3 inch strips of fabric, one for each side. (Though if I were to do this again, I would use 2 strips of thick ribbon- that would be cuter and quicker!!!)

Fold it over and stitch each of them up, 1 at a time of course.
Fold it inside out by pulling one end through the other to hide the seams
Attach the straps to the purse. I tucked mine inside and then stitched along the diagonal of the purse.
And thats it!

The straps in this picture look like they are wings or something! I should’ve folded them down to relax them before I took this picture! Ooops!

So this was my first time making it, and of course I could do better as I practice more, but seriously this was super easy! Give it a try!

Filed Under: Sewing ·

Comments

Tasha says:

August 10, 2009 at 7:31 pm

How do you do everything you do???? You have fun new crafts, yummy meals, and instructions every day. This looked very fun! I cannot wait to be at the stage of getting more projects done. Love this Blog. Love it!


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Glenda Marsh says:

August 7, 2011 at 7:59 pm

I just returned from a one wk. stint as a camp nurse in Wimberely TX…I walked in on a class of little girls & was able to help the counselor with a small portion of their bags using this pattern. It is & was a great beginner project for these campers. I saw a completed bag at our closing day & the camper said she ‘was very pleased’ with her bag. What a GREAT pattern for younger sewers! Thanks for sharing these pattern pictures.


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- Steph from Somewhat Simple says:
  
  August 8, 2011 at 10:15 am
  
  You’re welcome! I am glad you enjoyed this!
  
  
  3