Unique DIY present: coin purse with a "kiss clasp"

The price was reasonable, even with shipping. They came in quantities of five. I got five square ones and five curved ones.

All you have to do is decide how big you want your purse, and what shape to make it. If you use these square frames, the very top will be flat - but you can angle the sides out as much as you want to accommodate a roomier purse if you like.

I didn't draw pictures of this because the pictures in the links I gave above are wonderful. Go have a look.

OK, are you back now?

Once you've drawn your purse, tape the drawing onto a piece of cardboard for a template (I always use cereal boxes).

I made the template the size of the finished purse and did not include seam allowance. You'll see I add seam allowance later!

Since I was making five change purses, I had to cut out twenty identical pieces of interfacing. I ironed ten of them onto my lining fabric and cut around them, this time adding a seam allowance.

I knew I'd be using grosgrain ribbon to applique the monograms onto the fabric, so I figured out what was the smallest size letters I could make out of the ribbon and that determined how wide my pattern had to be.

After I embroidered the fabric, the backs were a bit messy, but I ironed the interfacing over them and that should secure all the messy threads.

The larger you make the corner you sew across, the "boxier" or less flat the finished purses will be.

I was in too much of a hurry to finish these purses to get this picture. You have sewed the "bag" parts together, right sides in, so the seam is showing on the "wrong" side, as you always do when sewing, BUT YOU LEFT THE TOP UNSEWED. This is the part which will fit into the metal frame. Now you turn the linking inside out and shove the outside material inside it, right-side in. Or you can do it the other way. Just be sure that the two finished seam sides are facing each other. Sew as indicated, leaving a gap on one side to pull the purse through.

So then pull the purse through! Now you should have the right side of the outside fabric on the outside, and the right side of the lining fabric on the inside. You'll know if you did it wrong, in which case - do it again, and do it right this time!

I didn't bother sewing the gap closed because I was about to glue it into the frame and it would never show.

This was my prototype purse, notice it has a round top unlike the others. You can't see this, but there is a portion of one of the curved seams which is unsewn - I pulled the fabric through that section and didn't bother sewing it up since I was about to glue it anyway.