DIY Repurposed Book Purse Tutorial

This past Christmas my nephew was on a hand-made present frenzy. =) He had this idea in his head that he wanted to make his mom & sister book purses for one of their presents. Which is a great idea, but I don't think he realized how long it was going to take. =) It literally took us all night one evening. (since we had no clue what we were doing) We looked up a bunch of tutorials and this is what we came up with.

What You'll Need:

sewing machine with coordinating thread

an old hard (not soft) book cover

iron and ironing board

fabric

modge podge

foam paint brush (to evenly spread modge podge)

scissors and exacto knife

ruler or tape measure

pen

pins

paper (to make your template)

Brendon bought his books from Amazon.com: Charles Dickens & Gray's Anatomy. Both of them are leather-bound...which I definitely think will last longer then a fabric hard cover book. I'm sure you can use whatever hard cover book you can find. I would suggest finding something that had a really neat design on it...or maybe your favorite book.

Picture from Country Living. 

First, you will take your exacto knife and cut the pages out of the book. =) I sensed some of you cringing. Don't think of these pages as a waste...there are TONS of great projects to do with book pages. Here are just a few ideas: 

Book Page Wreath

Book Page Mini Tree

Book Page Wreath with Rosettes

Holiday Crafting with Book Pages (she has lots of ideas)

Party Hat (she used sheet music, but you can use book pages)

Book Page Medallion

Book Page Ideas

Book Page Crown (love this one!)

Book Page Pendant Banner

Decoupage Bunny with Book Pages (Easter is coming soon!!!)

Book Page Table Runner

Rolled Book Page Christmas Tree

Picture from Country Living. 

Second, place a piece of white copy paper down. Stand your book cover up on end at about how wide you would want you purse to open.

Cut out your template & pin it to the fabric you plan on using.

Cut out 4 of these 'end' pieces.

Sew 2 of your end pieces face-to-face (dull side of pattern should be facing outward) a quarter inch from the edge. Sew all the way around leaving only a small section open so you can flip them right side out. Once they are flipped back right side out finish sewing along the outer edge to close up the opened section. Iron once finished. Sew the other 2 exactly like the first 2.

I didn't take a picture of this part. But we laid the book cover down on the fabric & traced around the book cover to get our template for the larger piece of fabric. We cut it out not exactly on the line but with an extra quarter inch so you could sew it a quarter inch in & still be the correct size.

You'll want to cut 2 of these large pieces out & put them face-to-face and sew all the way around again leaving a small opening so you can turn it right-side-out. Sew up that little hole & iron.

Now this part is a little tricky....I pinned the end piece to the side of the large piece. I advise start pinning in the middle and work your way down the sides. You may have to readjust a couple times. Sew right along the edge connecting the end piece & the large piece together. Do this on both sides.

HungryPanda has a really great tutorial how she did her book purse. She did her inside fabric a little differently...looks like her way may be a little easier, but I can't honestly say without actually trying it. I would definitely check it out though: book purse tutorial

Basically you can do whatever kind of handles that you want. The only thing I would suggest now that we're done =/ ...I wish I would have sewn the handles to the lining/inner fabric of the purse to ensure the handles wouldn't be pulled or ripped out due to the weight inside the purse. Hopefully you won't be carrying bricks, but nonetheless the glue will definitely weaken with use. For the handles we just cut strips of fabric to the length we desired, sewed them face-to-face leaving the end open so we could flip them right-side-out again, and then we sewed all the way around the edge to make it look finished.

Brendon measured & marked where he wanted his handles to go.

Then he just used modge podge to secure them in place. Yes, modge podge. It actually holds really well. I don't like to use hot glue because it gets hard & lumpy...not to mention I end up burning myself a thousand times. It's a wonder I still have fingerprints!

Brendon put modge podge on the book & the handles & held them in place till it dried a little. To speed up the process you could use your hair dryer. Next, he spread modge podge over the entire inside cover on the side he was working on.

He placed his sewn book lining to the wet modge podge and held in place till it dried a bit.

 He put some modge podge on the other side & attached the handles & lining just as he did with the previous side.

 To finish it off I made a fabric rosette pin to add to the handle. That way they could keep it on their purse or wear it on their coat. Brendon was pretty pleased with his finished product. I'm glad I was able to help him out a bit. =)

Ps. We did find a video tutorial that we found helpful even though we didn't follow exactly what he did. Video Book Purse Tutorial

This is the other purse he made for his mom.

Such a rewarding accomplishment...especially when you put all that work into & it turns out really great & then you get to give it to someone & see their reaction when they open it! How fun!!

I had to add this last book purse tutorial only because it's super cute!!: Activity Book Purse

All-in-all 'project book purse' was a fruitful night & the added bonus was I got to spend some quality time with my nephew. =) Now, get out there and repurpose some books!