Come Together Kids: Pretty Pink Purse (upcycled from an old shirt)

May 6, 2011

Pretty Pink Purse (upcycled from an old shirt)

Our Pretty Pink Purse

I'm lucky to be the mom of two adorable girls (and a handsome boy, but he's not part of this project!) My girls love pink, love flowers, and love toting around their prized possessions. Unfortunately, my girly girls don't always remember to use their napkins or change into play clothes when crafting or mud-pie making. By the end of each season, I usually have a pile of clothes with stubborn stains that just won't budge.

For this project, I went to my stash of "trashed" clothes and pulled out an old pink shirt and a pair of pants and set out to transform them into a "treasure". I kept the neckline of the shirt, but cut off the sleeves and the bottom half. I found a cute cupcake fabric remnant to use as a lining and made a simple purse tote. Then I sat down with a pair of scissors, a hot glue gun and a few DVR'ed shows and got to work turning that simple purse into something a little bit more special. I cut a bunch of strips from the remaining part of the shirt and the pair of pants. I braided several of the strips together and attached them to the neckline of the shirt to make some purse handles. With the rest of the strips, I rolled them into a bunch of little rosettes. After two episodes of GLEE! and a few hot glue burns, I had enough rosettes in various sizes to cover the front of our purse. I simply hot glued them on and my old clothes to pretty pink purse transformation was complete!

Now for the step-by-step:

1. Start with an old shirt and any other old clothes. I had a long sleeved girls' crew neck shirt and a pair of capris.

2. Cut off the sleeves and part of the bottom the shirt until it's the size and shape you'd like. Put the sleeves and bottom aside for later.

I ended up making the bottom a little more rounded after this pic.

3. Pin the right sides together and sew down the sides and across the bottom.

Pinned in place.

Edges sewn. I also zigzag stitched around the edges for extra durability.

4. Take your lining fabric and put the right sides together. Put your stitched purse on top as a pattern and cut out the lining. ( NOTE: I have never lined something before and I didn't feel like looking up the proper way to do it so I just totally winged it. It ended up working well enough for me, but if you know a better way, by all means, use it!)

5. Cut out a small semi-circle on the fold for the opening. You'll cut it to size later.

6. With the right sides still together, pin and then stitch along the sides and bottom of your lining.

7. Now you have your purse and lining ready.

8. With your purse fabric right side out and your lining wrong side out, slip your lining into your purse.

9. Now trim the opening of the lining fabric so it's about 1/2" larger than the opening of the purse.

10. Flip the whole thing inside out. Now the lining is on the outside and the wrong sides of the purse and lining are together.

11. Fold the edge of the lining fabric down about 1/4-1/2" and pin it around the neckline of the shirt. The edge of your lining should be just a bit lower than the edge of the neckline.

12. Stitch the lining in place close to the edge all around the neckline.

13. WooHoo! The purse is just about done. Now it's time to add the extras!

14. Cut the bottom part of the shirt that you put aside before into several strips.

15. Braid them together to cover the shirt's neckline and form your handle.

16. Decide how long you need your handles to be and hot glue your braid over the neckline.

Looks cute now. You can stop here if you want.

17. If you want to add a little more fun to your purse. Cut a bunch of strips. ( I used the slightly darker pink from those old knit capris. )

18. Roll the strips to form fabric rosettes in a variety of sizes. There are a lot of rosette making tutorials out there. I basically just started rolling at one end, twisted the strip around now and then, and put a dab of hot glue to hold it in place after every few times around.

19. Place your rosettes to cover the front of your purse and hot glue them in place.

That's it! You're done. I love the way mine turned out and totally want to make a few more. ( Mommy even has a few stained shirts that could work for a "big girl" sized purse!)