Today I’m going to show you a Reversible Purse Tutorial. This is a fat quarter friendly project!  And it’s also REVERSIBLE! That is a “fabric bargain.” I remember making reversible purses with wooden handles back in the 1970’s- but we used store-bought quilted place mats for the bag part. Does anyone else remember that?? Anyway, I think this is slightly cuter! There are lots of different kinds of handles available in your craft and fabric store. For this, I just used a “hoop” handle. The directions below are for a set of purse handles which are 8 1/8 x 4”. Adjust the pattern as necessary if your handles are a different size.

As I mentioned above, the purse also requires minimal fabric. Only a couple of fat quarters and some scraps….

Once I finished the purse, I decided that it would be really adorable with some sort of fabric flower on it (oh, any excuse to use more fabric, right?!) In my last post, I featured my Scrappy Quilt-y Pin in my “Stitched Stuff Spotlight.” This proved to be the perfect little accessory to complete the look.

For this project, I used my Cottage Charm fabric line. This is the same purse, reversed:

To make this purse, you will need:

• Yellow fabric- 1 fat quarter
• Red fabric- 1 fat quarter
• Striped fabric- 1 fat eighth, or scraps
• Wooden purse handles
• Washout sewing marker or chalk
• Thread- yellow and red

Click here for a printable PDF of the pattern.

Print out the pattern and cut out.

Fold your yellow and red fabrics in half and pin the pattern to the fabric. Cut out 2 of the patterns from Yellow fabric and 2 from Red fabric (Note that the pattern needs to be placed on a fabric FOLD.)

Unfold the fabric. Place the pattern back on the fabric and make the dots for the dart on the WRONG side of the fabric pieces, using a washout marker. Mark the dots on the left and right sides of the fabric pieces. (I used a dark marker for demonstration purposes.)

 To sew the dart, fold the fabric WRONG SIDE OUT and match up the dots. Pin fabric. You will sew a “triangle” between the matched up dots and the third dot. Don’t worry if your darts aren’t perfect- you’re just making a little purse, not tailoring an Italian suit :).

Leave a tail when you cut your thread; tie off the threads and then trim the excess. Press the darts toward the center of the purse.

Repeat with all 4 pieces of fabric (2 yellow, 2 red).

Place the 2 yellow pieces RIGHT sides together; pin. Repeat with red fabric pieces.

Sew, leaving the top edge open. Backstitch the beginning and ending of seam.

 Turn the yellow and red bags right sides out. Press the seams (I like to use a wooden dowel to push the seam out from the inside of the bag as I press, so that I get a nice rounded, flat curve and seam.) (If you want, you can clip the curves before you turn the bag right wide out, but I found it to be unnecessary.)

Turn under the top edge of each bag 3/8”; press. Set the bags aside for now.

 Cut 4 pieces of Striped fabric, each 5 x 5 3/4”. Place 2 pieces RIGHT sides together and sew along the short edge. Turn right side out and press. Repeat with remaining 2 pieces of Striped fabric.

Fold one of the pieces of Striped fabric in half over the bottom of the handle. Stitch baste along the bottom raw edge to hold all the raw edges together.

Pin the Striped fabric to the top inside edge of the Yellow bag. Pin in place, then baste it.

Repeat with other handle, attaching it to other side of Yellow bag.

Turn Red bag WRONG side out again. Place it inside the Yellow bag.

Align the top edges and side seams of the Yellow and Red bags. Pin. Remove basting stitches.

Topsew about 1/8” from top edge of bag, using yellow thread for the top and red thread for the bobbin. Sew just along where the Striped fabric is, and be sure to backstitch your seams.

Hand sew the top edge of the bag sides together.

Now your purse is done! You can decorate it with a Scrappy Quilt-y Pin or other fun pin. Make a bunch to go with all of your favorite outfits. This is a small purse, so it’s perfect for girls and teens!

You can find the pattern for the Scrappy Quilt-y Flower Pin here.