Quilted Purse Handle Tutorial

Ok, I LOVE these quilted purse handles so much that I decided to write a little blog-photo-tutorial for the how-to make them. If you want to show off your fabulous handles, please add them to my new flickr group. We'd love to see them. Lets see what I'm talking about first- You can see the finished handle in this bag design:

For the tutorial, I'm going to use dark green fabric and white stitching thread.

Supplies:

• Dense, tight batting or polar fleece, cut 1" wide and as long as you want your strap.
• 3" wide cotton fabric, cut as long as you want your strap

If you're making two straps, each less than 22" long, its easiest to just make one long one and cut it in half at the end.

First thing you need to do is press a 1/4 fold along ONE edge of your cotton fabric.

Next up, lay the cotton on your work surface and center the batting/fleece strip along the middle of the cotton.

Now fold the lower (unpressed) edge up. Make sure it goes over the *imaginary* center line of that batting strip.

Next, fold the pressed edge down. Pressed crease should lay a scant the past center of the whole strap. Pin this in place so it doesn't shift as you sew.

Time for the magic! With the fold facing up, stitch a long straight line down the center of your strap. Make sure you are sewing through the pressed fold and other layer of fabric.

Once you sew down the center, sew another line on the left and another line on the right. These lines should be equal distance from the center and strap edge. Fancy sewing machine decorative stitches might also be quite nice in these quilt-y steps.

Stitch through the length of the strap and it should look something like this:

With your quilted straps, cut them to the desired length, if you haven't already done so, and add them into any bag, tote, purse or diaper bag you can dream of.


If you make it, feel free to share it in the ReannaLily Designs Flickr pool.

Quilted Purse Handle Tutorial