A fun little novelty purse is the perfect dose of humor for a classic wardrobe, whether you’re more of a little black dress lady or a jeans and white tee girl. This citrus slice purse is pretty simple to stitch together and makes for a great conversation starter to bring along to Margarita Mondays, Taco Tuesdays… you get the idea! Simply switch up the colors to coordinate with your slice of choice – pink for grapefruit, green for limes, yellow for lemons, and orange for, well, oranges!
Supplies:
-leather, vinyl, or non-fraying material of choice
-coordinating zipper 10-12″ long
–D-rings
–purse chain
–leather grade sewing machine needle
-coordinating thread
Tools:
-sewing machine
–zipper foot
-fabric scissors
-template (click here to download – do not resize)
Step One: Click here to download the purse template. Cut two foreground pieces of your material with 4 windows as shown above. Be sure to add a 1/2″ border around the edges of the foreground piece for hem allowance! Then cut out two background pieces without windows.
Layer the foreground over the background and stitch around the windows.
Step Two: Cut two 2″ x 9″ rectangles and two 1″ x 3″ pieces of your foreground color material. Trim the zipper to be about 9.5″ long from the point of opening. Then fold each 1″ x 3″ piece of material over the edges of the zipper, stitching them in place around the border.
Step Three: attach the two 2″ x 9″ rectangles to either edge of the zipper as shown above. Make sure the nice side of your material is facing down and that the majority of the material is hanging overtop of the zipper as shown above.
Step Four: Now attach the front and back pieces of the purse in the same way, as shown above.
Step Five: Fold the front of the purse down at the hem and create a topstitch along that line, creating a nice finished hem that looks a bit like piping. (To understand better what this step looks like, refer to Step Nine where this same process is done to the bottom edge of the purse.)
Step Six: Cut a 3″ x 20″ piece and two 1″ x 1.5″ pieces of the foreground material.
Step Seven: Fold the ends of the small pieces through your D-rings as shown above left, stitching the material in place to secure the ring. You’ll need a zipper foot for this. Then fold down one end of your larger 3″ x 20″ piece of material and stitch it down, attaching the D-ring to the middle of the hem, as shown above right. Do not attach the ring to the other end of this flap until almost the end of Step Eight. Why? Well, material can stretch a bit as you sew, and to be sure you get the final length exactly perfect, we’ll wait and trim and finish it out right before you finish attaching the flap to the front and back face of the purse in the next step.
Step Eight: Unzip the zipper. Working with the nice sides facing inwards, attach the 3″ x 20″ piece of material to the bottom edge of the purse’s front and back, as shown above left. Start with the end that has the D-ring attached. Before you get all the way to the other end, stop stitching and fold down the end of the long piece, trimming it if necessary, to look like the above right. Stitch down the hem and add the other D-ring before finishing attaching the long piece to the border of the purse.
Step Nine: Finish off the purse with a topstitch where the faces meet the edge piece that you just attached in the previous step. This creates a nice, finished look.
Now just attach the purse strap to the D-rings, and you’ve finished the job!
My almost four-year-old daughter, Lucy, fell in love with my new little purse too. So I’m going to make her a smaller version for a birthday gift. It doesn’t take much material, and I have enough scraps to whip it up, next time using leather for a strap so I won’t have to buy a new chain. After you make it once, it’s much quicker the next time because you’ve figured it all out. But who needs two citrus purses? I don’t know… I mean, I guess I’m not here to judge!
What kind of slice do you prefer? I’m thinking an off-white suede with little pink triangles would make the cutest grapefruit bag! –Mandi
Credits // Author and Photography: Mandi Johnson.
23 Comments
What an adorable diy project! I love this idea for the summer!
http://www.thebeautydojo.com
So cute..love this!
This is such a cute DIY, I’m surprised at how easy it was as well! I can totally imagine making more of these of different patterns too.
Angelina Is|Bloglovin’
What a cute summer sewing project! Love it!
I love it, it’s so fricking cute!
https://www.makeandmess.com/
This purse is so cute! I love it!
Such a cool DIY! Definitely want to try it out 🙂 I’ve also just posted a DIY on my blog – about how you can make your own patched Levi’s 501. Check it out 🙂
XX Roos
http://rooskoks.com
This is a lovely project, but waaaaayyy too complicated for me, haha!
So tiny yet so creative! Well thought 🙂
this is so cool!
http://www.thewonderlanders.com
Arr wow, I may have to try this! Thanks so much for showing us how ♥
How cute is this?! You make everything look so easy!
http://www.shopthecoconutroom.com
haha adorable! love it 🙂
dorky-and-weird.blogspot.com
Xoxo Jessy
Mandi,
This is the cutest! And it looks do-able, even for this sewing novice! Thank you!
Not really a fan of fruit-shaped bags/purses myself, but this tutorial is AWESOME. So many options, so inspiring! 😀 Thanks for sharing!
This is fantastic! Can’t wait to try this DIY, it’s so cute 🙂
annaboopress.etsy.com/
I LOVE THIS! I am definitely going to make this. Thank you!
I think I need to make this purse! Thankyou
Putri | shecalledfashion.blogspot.com
Where did you get the leather? I’ve been looking for a good source!
I found mine on Etsy. I ordered more than I needed and am considering other projects to use up the rest of the pieces. -Mandi
This is so cuteee. Check out my blog: https://thediyplanet.wordpress.com/
This DIY is so adorable. Cehck out my blog: https://thediyplanet.wordpress.com
wow, this is so cute i think i should make one for myself soon