Placemat Purse

When Ken and I out at garage sales the other day I found a really cool set of placemats. I loved the gingko pattern and the fact that it was a brown and light blue print, currently my favorite color combination. I knew right away I was buying them and I was gonna take them home and attack them with scissors and a sewing machine.
I am SLOWLY teaching myself to sew. I bought a book (The Bag Making Bible by Lisa Lam) about making purses and bags about a week ago. I am mainly interested in how to make pockets, attach zippers, and lining. I didn't use any of those skills with this project :) but now I know what a gusset is, and I used a technique to help me make the bottom of this purse square.

After a phone call to Tami to receive some motivating words, I started.

The placemat was already lined, which was great, until I had to attach the magnet snap closure. I had to rip a seam to attach it. But no big deal, with my mad Green Bottom Bag making skills I managed to create a shape that passes for a purse!


Then I fabricated handles and the flap closure piece.

Then I got all kinds of crazy and made a bottom for the inside of the bag. I took a scrap of fabric and wrapped a piece of plastic canvas, then stitched through all the layers to secure.

It turned out pretty cute and I learned some lessons to apply on the next one. I still have a few more bags to create from this fabric, stay tuned!