Monster purse tutorial

You may have seen these on a post earlier this week.

I said then that I was thinking of making a tutorial.  Well, here is the tutorial. I made 5 more of these little purses today, so I can honestly say they are very quick and easy to make.  As ever, you are welcome to use this tutorial to make your own purses (and I would love to see the results!), but please do not copy the tutorial onto your own blog.  If you make purses to sell as part of a business, online or at events, it would be great if you would use the PayPal link at the top of the page and make a donation to The Sure Foundation towards their work in feeding starving children.  Obviously, if you make this to sell money for another charity I am just delighted if you find it useful and there is no need to make a donation.

So, on with the tutorial.  I made a friend for Toothy Monster above - Toothless Monster!  Actually, the truth is that on two of the purses (including the one I was photographing for the tutorial - darn it!) I just forgot to include the teeth.  However, I quite like the result so if anyone asks, it was entirely deliberate!
You will need a piece of fabric (mine is 5 1/2" x 11") for the body, with one end cut in a curve, and an identically sized piece for the lining; something to use as a fastening (I used velcro on these); two small buttons for the eyes, two small circles or ovals of felt for the eyes, a small piece of felt or fleece for the tongue, and small triangles of felt for the teeth.

Attache the felt circles for the eyes by zigzag stitching round them. Then sew on the buttons in whatever positions you decide.

At the other end of your body piece, attach your velcro.

Attach velcro to the lining piece.

To find where to place it, I put the body and lining wrong sides together, and folded it into the shape of the purse.  I marked with pins where the flap folded down - this is vital when you come to sewing it up. You can see these pins in the photo showing the velcro attached to the main body.

Put the lining and main fabric right sides together and sew along the short straight edge.

Open out and pin the tongue and teeth in place, pointing inwards.

Sew round the curved edge, starting and finishing at the pins.

Pin the main fabric in position for the purse, using the pins as guides.

Sew up the short sides, starting at the seam joining the main fabric to the lining.

Pin and sew the lining down one side.  On the other side, leave a gap of about 3" for turning.

Turn right side out through the gap you have left.

Sew up the gap, push the lining inside your purse and press well.

I'm sharing this post at the following link parties:
Sew Darn Crafty
Threading My Way
A Round Tuit
Manic Monday
Tutorial Tuesday