Framed Coin Purse Tutorial

Hi! – I am Mandy from Sugar Bee Crafts, and I am super excited to be here today!

I am IN LOVE with the Little Fatties bundles here at The Ribbon Retreat. For me, it is hard to think of which fabrics “go” together without being too matchy-matchy. The Little Fatties Bundles take all the guess work out of it – no thinking required. Little Fatties are a bundle of Fat Quarter cuts of fabric – a fat quarter is a 1/4 yard of fabric, cut in half width-wise. I knew using little fatties would be perfect for coin purses – the exterior and lining fabric would coordinate – plus you could make a whole set of coordinating coin purses, for such things as party favors or bridesmaid gifts.

For this project I used the Heirloom Little Fatties pack. I made an entire set with that pack and plan to make more with another set with the California Girl pack. You will also need interfacing aka Medium Weight Stabilizer, thread, and a coin purse frame (I found mine on Ebay).

So today I have put together a coin purse tutorial to show you how to make a framed coin purse.

First, all frames are different shapes and sizes, so you’ll have to draft your own pattern according to your frame. It’s easy – don’t worry! Lay your handle down on a piece of paper, and trace a little outside of it’s top edge. When you reach the hinge, go out and make the shape of the bag whatever you’d like. I didn’t go out til after the hinge (oops!) so I drew on the lines in the picture of what I should have done:

Use that pattern and cut 2 purse pieces, 2 lining pieces, and 2 stabilizer pieces:

Place your purse pieces right sides together with a piece of stabilizer on the wrong sides, so it should go stabilizer, fabric facing down, fabric facing up, stabilizer:

Also place your lining pieces right sides together. Then we’re going to sew – in the picture I used the lining. You sew the lining together and the outside together – so it’s like making 2 separate bags.

Anyways, first sew straight across the bottom. Then sew starting from the end of the frame curve to about 1.5 inches above the bottom seam. You can see what I mean in the picture below on the right side (the left side is already completed):

Then open up that gap you left and push the bottom up like so:

Then fold down those side flap things back onto themselves – kind of hard to explain, but I think you can see this in the picture:

Then sew it down by just continuing the line you had stopped all the way to the bottom. You can see it in the left side of this picture:

What you just did was add a tiny bottom and sides to your bag to give it more volume – see the cute little triangle on the outside??

Do that step for the outside and for the lining. You’ve made 2 separate coin purse bags. Now with the lining inside out and the outside fabric right-side out, put the outside fabric bag into the lining bag, like so:

Now sew along the curved top edge where the frame goes.

On one of the curves, leave a section unsewn – I think you can see my stitching in this picture below:

Turn the bag right-side out through that opening – it’ll look like this at first:

Then poke the lining into the main fabric to make it look like a coin purse. Then tuck under the edges to the opening and sew it shut, like so:

Now, grab your coin purse, frame and some strong glue – I used E-6000.

When you look at your frame, there is a groove. Working with one side at a time, fill the groove with glue. Then push that side of the coin purse into the groove. You can use something pointy if you need help getting it into the groove. I don’t have pictures of that part because I didn’t have enough hands to hold the frame, the glue, and the camera.

But I did get a picture of hold it while it was drying. It’s tacky dry after a few minutes, but I’d let it dry at least overnight before using it.

Isn’t is so cute?!?! The coordinating fabric is what makes the project worthwhile. See, the inside:

And the outside:

And another shot of the cute little corner:

Here is the whole set – Aren’t they amazing!!

So grab yourself some Little Fatties Fabric Packs, Medium Weight Stabilizer, thread, and a coin purse frame and try making one yourself!

Hope to see you over on my blog, Sugar Bee Crafts!!

Thank you so much Mandy for your coin purse tutorial!

I am always losing my change, and if I had one of these super cute Framed Coin Purses I would never lose it, and I might even try carrying cash more! 🙂

I love Mandy’s blog, Sugar Bee Crafts, so be sure to stop by and check out all she has to offer!

And to see more of our Little Fatties, be sure to click on the link!

If you have great tutorials and a fun idea you would like to share on The Ribbon Retreat Blog,
please submit a project.

Have a wonderful day!