Pleather Fortune Cookie Purse

by caitlinsdad

4.3K11517

Intro: Pleather Fortune Cookie Purse

Every gal and maybe guy - not that there's anything wrong with that, needs a fun purse for a night on the town. When not out crimefighting with the Batgirl Birkin Bag, this fortune cookie purse is perfect accessory for casual wear.

Inspired from wearables designer Diana Eng and her fortune cookie coin purse, this is the bigger version you can hang off of your shoulder.

Made from imitation leather, but you can make your own from choice real leathers for a luxury brand version.

STEP 1: Sew What...

So I took the brat and her bratty friends to the outlet mall for a shopping trip. I was left to fend for myself for several hours wandering the mall aimlessly so this is what I spotted.

At the home decor section of one store, they had all kinds of placemats on sale.

Because I have the straight eye of an engineer guy, this pleather like material might come in handy for something. I had bought two placemats in different colors.

They also had some coarsely woven metallic like placemats. I got a few since they were reminiscent of the texture you find on Star Trek TOS Klingon uniforms. I guess I will have that on hand in case I ever need to make a Klingon uniform.

You can also get pleather from the fabric store. Good old Tolex is good for covering guitar amps.

These placemat rounds were about 15 inches in diameter.

At another store, I purchased two metal chain belts. Caitlin was looking for bigger chain stock for her jewelry projects.

On another trip to our local discount craft store, I got some zippers and some jewelry findings, the swivel clips and split rings to hook on to the chain.

I got a longer zipper than necessary because I did not know what I needed. It was a 22 inch zipper but something around 12 inches would have worked out fine without having to tuck in or sealing and clipping off the excess.

You could probably sew this together by hand but a sewing machine is a lot faster.

Learn how to sew. It is fun and another tool to add to your maker collection.

CAUTION: Scissors, utility knives, pliers, awls, sewing machines can cause injury. Know how to use and craft safely.

STEP 2: Silver Lining...Zip It Up...

The placemats were a little thick to work with since they were double layered.

I used a seam ripper to take out the binding seam around the perimeter.

After I split the two layers apart, they were still sticky from adhesive used to line up the parts.

I had some spare fabric that I used as a liner.

It was tacked down with a seam around the perimeter.

Build in some pockets to the liner if you are really creative.

Fold the circle in half and mark off the midpoints at the crease.

When in the half-moon shape, the zipper should go down about halfway from the top or less on both sides.

That is important to be able to balance the purse when hung from the chain and the zippered side would face up.

I had sewn the zipper a little longer and thus missed the center of gravity for the points where the mounting rings were for the chain. The purse flips because the fortune cookie shape is top heavy.

You can then sew in the zipper on both sides.

You have to line up the zipper accordingly and sew inside out so that the finished seam will show on the purse outside.

You can also sew a second seam on the zipper to pull and flatten out the surrounding fabric by the zipper so it lies flat and can be easily opened without snagging anything.

STEP 3: Bend a Little...Chain It Up...

Now is the time to close up the end seams where the zipper is not attached.

Sew a couple of stitches on the inside and turn it inside out.

You may want to bar tack at the zipper opening ends to reinforce the stress point.

With the fortune cookie half-moon shape, crease it in the middle by pushing in both ends and giving it a karate chop in the middle. On the inside, just bar tack it in the middle so that it will hold the bent shape.

I used an awl to start the hole to feed in the split ring for the swivel hook.

You can add metal eyelets/grommets or another piece of pleather to reinforce the stress point.

If you are in need of a handbag, you could make handles from the excess layer of material. Just seam a strip around some thick cord and sew the end tabs to the purse.

Get the ring through both sides and attach the long chain.

Adjust to length.

Load the purse with printed fortunes to hand out.

Be fierce and wear it out in style.

16 Comments

C l a u d i a 5 years ago

Hello, you have a video with the step to step? it's so fantastic your handbag I love it!!! ☺ regards

caitlinsdad 5 years ago

Sorry, no video, this was a project that is done some years back. Anyways, it's more to serve as an inspiration to get you to experimenting on your own. Even if you are a beginner crafter, you make a few samples, smaller in size, scrap fabric, have the seam ripper tool ready, experiment, some of them might turn out to be exactly what you need or really good and some might turn out into animal shapes with ears instead of a fortune cookie. You will surprise yourself. Good luck.

CarmenE 8 years ago

I love the idea but wasn't quite clear on the instructions. Well i guess on the part where you secured your karate chop! Also will the zipper be hanging toward the floor right?...?

caitlinsdad 8 years ago

think of it as making an American football. Dent it in the middle and fold in half to get that fortune cookie shape. Sew a few stitches inside the bag to keep the sides together. The zipper should be facing up to the sky when it is hanging from the chain and worn. The shorter the zipper, the closer the placement of the ends of the chain higher up on the balance point of the bag, otherwise the weight of the bag will spin it upside down when worn.

doodlecraft 9 years ago

I see a cool fortune cookie purse in my future! :) Love it!

caitlinsdad 9 years ago

Make an entire batch and be sure to have enough to share.

Zabzab 9 years ago

It looks very cool =D

caitlinsdad 9 years ago

It goes, do, re, me, fa, so... Thanks.

thematthatter 9 years ago

What do you keep in your purse?

You should keep a box cutter in it, just incase another woman is wearing the same shoes as you.

caitlinsdad 9 years ago

Keep an eye out for those with size 13 jump boots and just wait till I get a hold of the person who pushed me out of the plane...

caitlinsdad 9 years ago

Thanks, it is an easy and fun thing to make.