Coin Purse with Clasp

Over the summer I saw a cute coin purse on Craftsy. It had a metal frame with a clasp; I had seen these before but thought that there was some complicated secret to making them. But after reading the project information, I decided that it might be manageable, so I found the website and ordered the pattern and frames.
When they arrived in the mail, I was more than disappointed. I was almost angry. The pattern, which cost $9 was all text…nothing visual. At. all. The pattern pieces were shaky and hand drawn. What’s worse is that I had to add 1/4” seam allowance to the pattern. OK, I have one pattern that the reader needs to add 1/4” – but that’s because if I added it, it wouldn’t show when printed. And that pattern (Sassy Girl Christmas Stocking) is $.99. But when I pay that much for a pattern, I expect a little more.

Needless to say, everything sat…for months. Then my friend and I saw some more blog posts about making similar coin purses, so we ordered 50 frames for $100 on eBay. Some were 3” and some were 4”. It was an impulse buy. So cheap! But then those sat for a few months. I eventually put them in the closet so I wouldn’t be reminded of the money I potentially wasted!

Then last week I was on Craftsy and saw a pattern for a coin purse. But this one seemed better. I just had a sense. I ordered it. And it was better. Much better. My only problem was that my frames were glue in. So I scoured the internet for directions. And found them thanks to Lisa Lam. Here’s another tutorial from Dixie Mango – she, however, glued the coin purse in a sew-in frame. I loved her idea to trace the pattern on freezer paper the press it to the fabric!






I went to work my first one. I figured out some tricks to make it work:

1. I don’t pin. I sew a few stitches, put the needle down, lift my foot, manipulate the fabric, and continue sewing.
2. Press the seams flat near the top – the area that goes in the frame – or you’ll have too much bulk and will struggle when gluing.
3. When sewing the two sections together, start at the top and stop about 1” from the bottom. Take it out of your machine, flip it, and start sewing at the top of the other side. If you have anything extra, just work it into the bottom of the coin purse.
4. There will be about 1/4” extra at the top of the front section. I just cut it off.
5. I’m currently figuring out if light-weight interfacing is better than fusible fleece. We’ll see. I plan to put it on both the lining and the exterior.
6. I don’t hand sew the hole. I used my machine and stitched really close to the edge.
7. I used E-6000 glue – let it set up for 5 – 8 minutes before inserting the purse into the frame. It’s less messy and seems to grip better.
8. With some coercing, I glued the coin purse to the frame. I used a bent paper clip and a little screw driver to shove the fabric in the frame.

So now I am on to the next little bag! I saw this pattern on ETSY – from NapKitten Patterns. I love how full the bag is. It looks like I might need a sew-in frame for this one. Not a problem. I purchased some when I bought that first horrible pattern. Time to get busy sewing!