Accessories. I love them. I make them, I sell them, I wear them. In all their shapes, colors and sizes. I have been on a major hair accessory kick, but secretly I’ve been in love with purses! Especially unique purses. Last year I started making Continuous Zipper purses for myself and all my family,and now? Seatbelt purses! And today I’m going to share with you HOW to make one.
Supplies
6 Yards Seatbelt, 2″ wide (or more yardage for a larger purse)
4″ grosgrain ribbon matching color
12″ zipper
Heavy duty, or upholstery thread
Heavy duty sewing machine needle (I used a leather one, it worked great)
1/4 yard fabric for lining
2″ thick foam
Matches, to burn and seal the cut edges of the seatbelt
To start with I cut the foam to the size we need it to be. Since this purse is going 2″x10″x7″ I cut the 2″ foam 10 inches wide!
Now cut 3 (or more for a taller purse) stripes wide enough to go around your foam with an extra 1/2 inch overlap. If your seatbelt is 2 inches wide it will be 24 1/2 inches long (the width of 12 straps). IF your seatbelts (like mine) are a bit LESS than 2 inches make sure you take that into account. My strips ended up needing to be 23 1/2 inches each. This is important so make SURE you measure the width of your straps. Finally cut one more piece an extra 1/2 inch longer for the top.
Sew each of the 4 pieces you’ve just cut into circles with the half inch overlapping.
Now slide the three smaller circles onto your foam.
We’re going to start weaving the rest of the purse now. Starting with the sides. It is VERY important that the bottom of the side weaving go OVER the bottom strap circle. I used pins to hold the ends in place and keep the straps tight.
Now you can attach your carrying strap however you’d like, I decided not to use extra hardware but to sew it directly to the sides. To hide the seam lines and sewing lines I decide to tuck them into the second strap down. I slid off the middle circle and marked where I wanted to sew the straps on.
I sewed them on and then slid the middle circle back on!
Now start weaving the sides, pinning at the top of each side (I leave about 1/2 inch excess at each end). I started on the outside working my way in. Make sure you cover the seams of your circles with your weaving
If you measure your circles right it will be a nice snug fit When your done weaving you’ll want to unpin and tighten each of the straps. And make sure all the horizontal loops are pressed firmly down.
Make sure it’s all smoothed and then pin all the vertical straps to the top horizontal circle strap.
Once you have them all pinned you can slide the foam out of the purse and it should stand on it’s own!
Cut the lining to fit the inside of your purse. With right sides together sew the seams. Then fold the corners, sew, cut and open the lining, fit it into the purse!
Now we’re going to put the body of the purse aside and work on the top part of the bag. Starting with the zipper!
Remember the larger circle from earlier? This is going to be our top edge, to cover the seam we’re going to cover it with the grosgrain ribbon. Sewing it into place.
Now using a zipper foot add your zipper to one side of your circle.
Next comes the MOST difficult part. Seatbelts are thick and hard to fold, but that’s exactly what we’re going to do! Put the zipper side of the circle inside our bag, fold the circle over the outside and sew around the top of the bag! It would be nice to have an industrial sewing machine for this, but my sewing machine did almost the whole circle by itself. I did have to hand sew the thickest part, where the grosgrain ribbon was cover the overlap. It was too thick to fit under my sewing machine foot!!!
And Finished!!!
Charlie
This is so awesome! Amazing job, Ashlee!
Aloha,
Charlie
Ashlee
Thanks so much! it was so much fun to make, and I love going around with it.
Beverly @ Flamingotoes.com
This is sooo cute Ashlee!! I love it and you’ve done a great tutorial! I have a red seatbelt purse that I love – but I (sshhhhh) bought it. 😉
Ashlee
I won’t tell!! I wanted a red one, but the red seatbelt material cost a lot more than the silver, gold and black. I am enjoying my multicolored one! Kind of different and fun!
Teri
HI! I just found you through another blog! How fortunate for me! I love this idea, and hey, I just got a new sewing machine and have to try it out and this looks like fun and so cute too! Thank you! I love your color combo on it!
Ashlee
Thanks so much! I’m so glad you found me~ Just make sure you use the right needles, it’s hard to go through all this thick material. so take your time! I’m glad you like it!
T
cute… but I have to admit with my fear of all things Foamy (technically referred to as Foambia) I couldn’t really look at those pictures without shivers running up and down my spine. (yes, I’m serious – and yes, I do know that I have a ridiculous problem)
Ashlee
foamy??? Does the seatbelt material look foamy??? Do you wear seat belts?
Ashlee
okay.. DUH, you were talking about the foam I used to shape the purse. I am such an idiot. My brain is clearly not working very well right now. Sorry for sounding so stupid before!
Tanya Stansberry
I absolutely love this! I just found your blog and I am loving it:)
Ashlee
Thank you so much! It’s so much fun to get a comment like this, I love what I do and it’s just wonderful when someone else likes it to!
Angela
I want to tackle this project for the new year and post the results on my blog. Is it okay to link back to you once it is completed?
Angela
Ashlee
of course! I hope you find it easy to follow and I can’t wait to see how yours turns out!
shera
Wondering where you purchased your seat belt webbing in bulk like that? Would you share? Fun purse thanks for the tutorial.
Ashlee
man that was so many years ago! I ordered in from china, but I don’t remember the company, it was totally through google searching!
rachel
I am nervous to do the zipper…..I have done so many but without the zippers….zippers are highly requested…..I can’t figure it out though
Ashlee
the zipper isn’t too hard, it’s more about having a good enough machine to push through all the thick layers, go slow and hand crank it when you need to!
Cat
What was the yardage on the liner?
Ashlee Marie
it was a scrap of fabric I had leftover, so I don’t know for sure – a 1/4 of a yard?