A Wristlet Handbag is a fashionable (and secure) way to carry the essentials.
Keep your phone, keys, money, and lipstick at the end of your wrist as you run errands, or paint the town red!
It's "sew" easy to make and even easier to customize to match your favorite outfit! Choose your favorite design and fabric. Make a beaded band for the wristlet, as shown, or get creative by substituting the beads with a bangle bracelet, or matching ribbon!
The finished size for this project is 9 3/4 x 6 inches
Supplies & Materials:
- 1/2 yard print lightweight canvas
- 1/2 yard solid color lightweight canvas
- 1/2 yard crepe backed satin
- 9 3/4 x 6 inch piece of batting
- Medium weight, cut-away stabilizer
- Air-erase pen
- Beads
- Temporary spray adhesive
- 18 x 14 inch sheet of double sided stiff fusible interfacing
- 9 inch polyester all purpose zipper
- 20 gauge craft wire
- Needle nose pliers or craft pliers
The designs used in this tutorial include:
Lay the crepe fabric right side up. Measure and mark a 10 1/4 x 6 1/2 in rectangle using a air-erase pen. Leave a few inches of fabric around the marked area. Mark the center of the rectangle by measuring the width and dividing by two. Measure the height and divide by two. Draw lines through the rectangle, connecting the horizontal and vertical axis points. These lines will be used for alignment when hooping.
With your embroidery software, create paper templates of the designs by printing them at full-size. Cut around the designs to make them manageable.
Using an air-erase pen, poke a hole in the center of the templates and mark the fabric.
Make sure the design fits well within the rectangle, leaving at least one inch of fabric around the design.
Lightly spray the stabilizer with temporary adhesive. Hoop the fabric and stabilizer together, aligning the lines on the hoop with the lines on the fabric.
Attach the hoop to the machine, load the design, align the needle directly over the center point on the fabric, and embroider the design.
Once the design has been embroidered, carefully cut away the excess stabilizer and cut out the rectangle shape.
Lay the embroidered crepe fabric right side up. Using a straight edge and an air-erase marker, draw a diagonal line about 1/2 inch from the design. Mark a parallel line about 1/4 inch to the right of the first line for the allowance.
Trim the corner along the allowance line.
Lay a piece of the print lightweight canvas right side down. Lay the trimmed corner right ride down on top of it and trace the shape, with an additional 1/2 inch of fabric on the long side.
Cut out the shape and lay the corner right side down on the embroidered crepe fabric. Align the long end, allowing about 1/2 inch of fabric to hang over the embroidered crepe fabric. Pin in place.
Sew a 1/4 inch seam along the pinned edge.
Prepare the remaining fabric by cutting:
- one 10 1/4 x 6 1/2 inch piece of printed canvas fabric for the back of the wristlet
- two 9 1/2 x 5 3/4 inch pieces of the solid canvas fabric for the lining
-one 2 x 4 1/2 inch piece of the solid colored canvas for the strap
Fold the small piece of canvas lengthwise, bring the sides in to meet each other in the center. Fold the canvas in half lengthwise. Sew the seams along the sides of the straps.
Cut two 9 1/4 x 5 1/2 inch pieces of the fusible interfacing.
Center the interfacing on the wrong side of the lining fabric pieces. Press the lining fabric on both pieces to activate the interfacing, adhering the interfacing to the fabric.
Center the interfacing on the wrong side of the lining fabric pieces. Press the lining fabric on both pieces to activate the interfacing, adhering the interfacing to the fabric.
Sew a 1/4 inch seam around the short sides and one long side, leaving one long side open.
Cut a 9 3/4 x 6 inch piece of batting. Spray the backside of the embroidered crepe with temporary spray adhesive and center the batting on top. Smooth the batting in place.
Cut a 12 inch length of craft wire, form it into a loop. Using the pliers, bed one end into a small loop.
You may need to make the bracelet smaller to suit your wrist size.
Add the beads to the wire leaving about 3/4 inch of excess wire on the the open end. Loop the open end through the looped end and twist it in place.
Wrap the strap around the loops in the wire and sew a seam as close to the wire as possible.
Add the bracelet and strap to the embroidered piece of crepe. Pin the strap about 1-2 inches from the top of the fabric. You can choose to place the strap either the right side or left side of the design depending on how you would like this design to hang once it is on your wrist. Tape the bracelet in place with masking tape during while you sew the pieces together.
Place the embroidered crepe fabric and print canvas right side together and pin in place.
Sew a 1/4 inch seam along the short sides and the bottom, leaving the top open for turning.
Turn the piece right side out and remove the pin and tape from the crepe. Press the seams.
Place the lining inside the handbag. Fold the outside fabric about 1/4 inch in towards the lining. Fold the lining over 1/4 inch towards the outside fabric.
Unzip the zipper and place one side of it between the lining and outside fabric. Pin in place.!
Use a zipper foot to sew the zipper in place. Repeat the steps to sew in the other side of the zipper.
You are ready for the red carpet! Keep everything you need close at hand in a stylish wristlet handbag. So glamorous!
