Tutorial for placemat purses

I took this picture to show a variety of handles & the clearance stickers on the placemats. The blue one has a $2.00 tag on it and the orange plaid ones (there's 4) were marked down to $2.99. All of the handles except one came from old purses I purchased from Goodwill. I try to never pay more than $2.99. Then, I just take the handles off to use for new creations.

Step 1. Put your trim on first. You can decide how high or low you want it.
Step 2. Cut ribbon for handles and sew together to make a loop.

Step 3. Pin the handles for placement and sew in place.
Step 4. I always use pinking shears on the ribbon to keep it from fraying. You could also use Fray Check.
Step 5. Mark your side seams (depending on how skinny or wide you want it). For the corners, this time I'm using a 3" triangle.

Step 6. Again, I use pinking shears on the seam allowance.
Step. 7 I always cut a notch out of the corner to get rid of some of the bulk before I turn it right side out.
Following all of the steps above for this cute plaid one.
Only this time I am marking 2" side seams and using a 2" triangle for corners. I want this one to be a bit smaller. I will be cutting off quite a bit from the seam allowance before turning right side out. One more option on these bags is to make a "boxed bottom". That just means you will sew it exactly like the bottom of a brown paper bag. What happens is that the bag will be shorter, and will be free standing when set down. If you have any questions, just ask me in your comments and I will get back to you.
This one, I added denim to the top, a real pocket off an old pair of jeans, and some trim. The handle loops are actually belt loops.

If you look on the inside of a tote bag that you already own, you will see how they sew it to give it the boxed bottom, which allows the bag to stand on its own.
Have fun and good luck!! : )
M.L.
***If you'd like to see more tutorials, you can click on [Projects (of the crafty sort)] on my sidebar under 'Labels'.