Book Purse

I made this Book Purse as a gift for my dear friend, Lori, who is retiring from a library job. 

These online book purse tutorials were useful:
DIY Repurposed Book Purse Tutorial at Amandita's Designs 
I like Amanda's technique for creating a fabric lining that is sewn together. She has a great tutorial. I used her tutorial for the most part, with some modifications. My work flow is listed below.

Arystocrafts Book Purse Tutorial
I like Arystocrafts technique of reinforcing the spine with an additional piece of cardboard cut to size. Also liked her style of button clasp.

Carefully choose a book and remove the pages with a craft knife, being careful not to cut into the book cover. To reinforce the spine, cut a narrow rectangle of cardbord that fits inside this space. I used part of a cereal box. I glued it with Liquitex Basics gloss gel medium-adding this to both the book spine and the rectangle. I used a large artist brush. Keep a glass of water nearby and place the brush in it so the gel medium does not dry on the brush.

Make a paper pattern by tracing your book as it lays flat, adding an additional 1/4 to 1/2 inch around the edges-depending on your seam allowance. Cut 2 rectangles for the inside purse. 

To determine the pattern for the side/triangle pieces, open the book, set the side on a piece of paper and draw around the edge with a pencil. Then add 1/4 to 1/2" to all sides depending on your seam allowance. Cut 4 pieces of the triangles, for the edges.

Sew the 2 rectangles pieces together, with right sides facing, leaving an opening to turn. This is the base. Sew the 2 sets of 2 triangles together in the same way, right sides facing and leaving an opening to turn to the right side. Press with iron, then topstitch along all the edges. Now there are 3 finished pieces, a rectangle and 2 triangles. Pin your triangles in place, matching the centers. Topstitch those together, on on each side of the rectangle.

For the handle straps, cut 2 strips of fabric 3" wide x 28" long. Fold edges to the inside to create a 1" wide strap. I added a strip of interfacing, 3/4" x 28"  to the inside center of the straps before topstitching. Sew finished handle straps to the fabric lining before gluing it to the book. I left about 16" of strap above the purse, evenly spacing the portion that is stitched to the fabric lining.

For the clasp, cut a 2 rectangles of fabric 3". Sew right sides together, on 3 sides, adding a piece of interfacing at buttonhole placement. Turn, press and topstitch. Attach button to center front of purse on the top.  I pierced the book with a very narrow sharp scissors. It would have been better to pierce 2 holes for sewing the button, but I only made one. So, I had to knot the ends inside, then left a long tail of thread which was glued inside with the fabric lining.The thread I used was very thick tent thread.

On the small finished rectangle, decide where your buttonhole should be placed and mark with chalk. Sew buttonhole with sewing machine, then match up your rectangle and the purse fabric lining and pin. Stitch together. You could use a fabric strip or some kind of elastic for a closure if you prefer.

With the Liquitex Basics gloss gel medium, I attached the fabric lining to the inside of the book. Again, with my wide artists paint brush, I added the gel medium to the book with a rather heavy coat and reapplied this to areas that seemed to dry. Then placed the fabric lining inside and pressed with my hands. I held it for awhile and adjusted the fabric toward the edges, smoothing the fabric with my hands. It's been 24 hours and I see a few places on the side bottom where the fabric has separated. I will add more gel medium and hope it stays glued!!!

I stamped on the front of the purse with Lumiere gold paint with flourish and flower stamps from Me and My Big Ideas. The word stamps are from Hero Arts, Inkadindado and Stampin' Up!

There are many book purse tutorials. I wanted a book purse with a sewn fabric lining. I am not sure how durable this purse will be. I'm hoping to make one for myself to test the durability factor.

Enjoy...and email me with photos if you create a book purse!