Shabby Gals: Tablecloth to Purse

Good morning!! It is such a wonderful start to the day when the sun is shining! That's what we are waking up to around these areas. It's hard to complain when the sun wakes you up with it's bright face. Besides making a quick run to the doctors today we have nothing on our agenda and it feels good. Sometimes it's nice not have any plans and just be able to catch up and work on some fun projects that have been on the back burner for a while.

This summer I picked up this old tablecloth. Something about it drew me in. I am not sure if it was the design, the color, or that it had a lacy, feminine look. I knew that I could come up with something to use it for.

So I already own this purse that has vinyl on the outside. It's the perfect thing for me to carry around. For one I have a child, so it's great because it cleans up really well, and two because I am so rough on purses that this one stays nice through it all. That was my inspiration to use this tablecloth for the bag I am about to show you. I figured that this tablecloth will clean up real nice and you don't have to worry about being to rough with it because it should be pretty durable. This bag I am about to show you that I created I found on pinterest. The blog that I found it from has a great tutorial for it. I had a few issues recreating it for some reason and did a few of my own tweaks but it turned out in the end. The blog is called morningbymorningproductions.blogspot.com.

Basically you make your own pattern. She gives some measurements to go by and then you cut your fabric and go. You can make your own measurements as I did based on how large you want your bag to be. Just remember to make all the pieces the same. It's a pretty basic bag and it's nice because you can reverse it. Although mine won't be reversible because I used interlining for the inside which doesn't look quite as nice on the outside as the tablecloth does.

So cut out four pieces out of the same pattern for the bag with the fabric folded in half and the short side of the pattern on the seam of the fabrics, or in my case tablecloth, you choose to use. You need two for the outside and two for the inside. Sew the two outsides together and the two insides together. Then you will shove one bag inside the other right sides together and sew them together along the straps. Leave the top of the straps open though. You will pull them right side out through one of the straps. It's get really tight while doing this but trust me it works. Once you have both sides right sides out you are going to finish the strap.

As you can see in the pictures below I added some lace to make it more feminine and give it some detail. I sewed it right into the front of the purse first and then sewed the bag together so the lace gets tucked away in the seams.

Once you pull the bags right side out you are going to finish the strap. Make a little tube out of any fabric you want. You can match the fabric, as I did in the purse below, or you can use something else that coordinates. I thought it would be cute to use material from an old purse laying around but I didn't have one to match. You sew the two ends of the straps together and then pull the tube of fabric over it. Then you have a completed look.