Fruit From My Hands

It is 4th of July week and I felt the need for a new purse.  I found a pretty snazzy, all-American one but it had a short faux leather strap.  I can never find purses with ample straps for my ample body.  Then it hit me.  I can sew!

As a quilter I have a stash of leftover quilt binding from previous quilts.  I dug through that bin and found this red fabric with blue and white stars.  Perfect.  The existing strap on the purse was narrow and matched the width of the binding perfectly.

1. Using a seam ripper, remove the existing strap from the hardware, leaving the existing hardware in tact.
2. Open up the folded quilt binding strip.  Mine was 1 7/8″ wide when folded.
3. Fold the unfinished fabric edges of the strip in to the middle fold and finger press.
4. Topstitch with a machine along the long edge of both sides of the strip.
5. Thread the ends of the finished strip through the purse hardware and adjust the new strap to the perfect length.
6. Tuck the unfinished ends in on themselves and loop around the existing hardware.
7. Stitch the ends in place using a sewing machine.  Stitch back and forth several times for added security.

Voila! New purse with custom strap that always fits.