How to make a leather purse. Part 2.
This is the second part of my tutorial on making a leather purse. If you prefer a video tutorial go to my YouTube channel – you can watch it here.
In this article, I want to show you how to sew a lining and a stabilizer for my DIY leather bag, how to make leather flowers and leaves for the purse embellishment, how to sew the metal purse frame and how to finish the purse.
If you read part 1 of this tutorial on sewing leather bags you would have seen me cutting the pattern pieces from leather, making piping and stitching all seams. So, let’s continue with this tutorial.
1. Sew a purse stabilizer and a lining.
Let me remind you how we cut lining and stabilizer pieces.
Do you want to download my free PDF leather purse pattern? I didn’t find many free leather bags patterns online so here is your chance. The pattern is in my RESOURCE LIBRARY. If you are a subscriber you will find the password to enter the library in my weekly emails. Subscribe in the form below to download the pattern.
2. Make leather flowers and leaves.
Now let’s make leather flowers and leaves. I used paper pattern pieces of different sizes. The diameter of the biggest flower is about 8 cm ( 3 in) and the diameter of the smallest flower is around 2.5 cm or 1 in. Other flowers are somewhere in between.
You can download the printable PDF template for the flowers from my Resource Library. If you are a subscriber you can find the password to enter the Library in my weekly emails. If you are not a subscriber you can sign up in the form below and I will send you the password for the Library right away by email.
I cut flowers and leaves with my sharp shears. But if you have a cutting machine like Brother Scan&Cut you can use it for cutting leather. It’s much faster and nicer. I am truly amazed by what this cutting machine can do.
To make a rose center take one bead (around 1 cm in diameter) and cover it first with 4 petals flower (to hide the bead completely) using glue. Then add one more small flower.
3. Sew metal frame to the purse.
I didn’t film how I put the silver metal frame to my purse. So to make this tutorial I used another frame – golden one which is very similar to the one I used before. The steps are exactly the same as with my silver frame. Take the frame and find the exact center on each side. It may be not so easy because the holes may be not placed exactly in the center. So for this take a painter’s tape and place small pieces of the tape on each side of the frame, measure the frame and mark the centers with a pen.
4. Attach a handle.
I bought a necklace that was matching the purse colors and decided to make purse handles from it. I had to change the thread for the necklace (so it will not be broken after a few uses of the purse) – I had to make it stronger. So I used a plastic wire ( like a fishing line string) to make the handle unbreakable. To attach the handles I used so-called lobsters — they are well-polished clasps that are made from rust-resistant stainless steel.
===
One of our friends, Nancy Saenen, has made a purse using parts of this pattern. Here is what Nancy says:
I wanted to make a handbag for my mother and I bought a piece of fake leather and a piece of fake buckskin for a good price on the market in Maastricht. I also ordered a metal frame on Wish and then I went looking for a nice pattern for a bag. I already made a toilet bag with a frame of a 2-part pattern but now I was looking for something with more “volume”. It was a difficult search, until I ended up at your tutorial. I found the bag a bit on the small side so I made the pattern a bit larger, I also found the piping and the flowers a bit difficult so I skipped all that. I also made an inner pocket with zipper and one with frown. So a lot of adjustments, but I am very happy with the result.
===
I think we all agree that the bag turned out very, very nice: Congratulations, Nancy!
===
Did you find this tutorial helpful? It took quite a while for me to put it together, so I would be incredibly grateful if you will share it on Facebook or Pinterest. It will help my Ageberry blog grow. If you have any questions about how to make a leather purse I will be more than happy to try and answer them in the comments below.