DIY Coin Purse - Cute Little Purses to Make

Learn to make a DIY coin purse. Last week I went to the local markets and held up lots of traffic at the parking station while digging around for loose change in the bottom of my handbag. The solution? Make a DIY coin purse and attach it to my keyring. Problem solved for next time! Now if only I can keep my daughter from pinching the change inside my new purse 🙂 It looks pretty though doesn't it? Usually, I keep all the pink samples but I kept the gold one this time.

So on to the DIY coin purse tutorial -

DIY Coin Purse - Supplies

LEATHER - Thin to medium weight leather or faux leather/vinyl for the outside. Faux leather (vinyl) can be purchased on a roll from your favorite fabric store. I got the brown and pink used in my samples from fabric.com. A cheap way to buy leather for small projects is to get bundles of scrap. There are numerous scrap suppliers on Etsy and Amazon.
INTERFACING - Double-sided interfacing
FABRIC - Cotton fabric for the inside
CLIP - ½ inch (12mm) D-ring or lobster clip. You could even use a 1 inch (235cm) keyring.
SNAP - KAM snaps. These are plastic snaps that are cheaply purchased online from Amazon and eBay. (Read all about KAM Snaps)
CRYSTALS to decorate - you can use cheap acrylic ones or even fancy Swarovski crystals.
NEEDLES - Leather needles. Specialized needles have sharp tips that pierce through the leather and prevent skipped stitches.
FOOT - Teflon foot. While it is not strictly necessary, a Teflon foot is amazing to sew leather and vinyl with as the bottom of the foot does not stick thus eliminating any uneven or skipped stitches.

More Styles of DIY Coin Purse

Here are some more styles of DIY coin purse that you can find on the Treasurie blog.

DIY Coin Purse - VIDEO

Here is a quick YouTube video I made showing you just how easy it is to make this purse. Subscribe to my YouTube channel for weekly craft and sewing videos.

DIY Coin Purse VIDEO

DIY Coin Purse - Tutorial

Step 1: Attach Interfacing

Rough cut your leather, interfacing, and fabric to 4 by 7 inches (10x18cm). We will be cutting this all down to the exact size later so there is no need to cut precisely.

On the wrong side of the leather press the fusible interfacing with the glue side facing down.

Leather is fluffy on the back and Faux leather normally has a fabric backing so this should be no problem. Test a scrap first and use a pressing cloth to minimize anything melting or coming off on your iron.

Peel off the paper backing of the interfacing and press it to the wrong side of the fabric.

press interfacing on coin purse — DIY Coin Purse - Step 1

Step 2: Cutting

Cut your piece into a rectangle 3.5x6.5 inches (9x16.5cm). Make sure you have nice sharp scissors that will cut clean edges. You could also use a rotary cutter but watch your fingers as leather is harder to cut through than fabric so there is more chance of it slipping.

Fold the top of the clutch in half lengthwise and round the corners. By cutting the 2 corners together, you will ensure they are symmetrical and even.

round corners of coin purse — *DIY Coin Purse - Step 2*

Step 3: D Ring

Cut a scrap of leather ½ inch (12mm) by 2 inches (5cm) and thread it through your D-ring. Fold it in half and baste or glue the ends together.

Place the D-ring on the side of the main clutch piece and fold the bottom of the clutch up 2 ¼ inches (5.7cm).

You can glue it in place or wonder clips are handy for holding the sides without making a mark.

Step 4: Stitching

Stitch the sides and around the top.

Stitching Tips:

NEEDLE - Make sure you use a leather needle to prevent skipped stitches
STITCH - Use a medium length stitch of 2.5
FOOT - If your leather is sticky or overly textured, a Teflon foot or walking foot can ensure the foot sews smoothly. I always use a Teflon foot as I find it easier to manage than a walking foot. They are also great for sewing Lycra and other tricky fabrics.

Further Reading: How to Sew Leather

sewing sides — *DIY Coin Purse - Step 4*

Step 5: Snaps

Now it is time to add your KAM snaps and crystals.

If you haven't used KAM snaps before, here is a tutorial on how to apply KAM snaps. I used a small pad of post-it notes to put inside the clutch so I could make the hole through the flap and body in one go. This results in perfect alignment of the snaps.

Step 6: Decorate

For the crystals, you can use a hot glue gun, E6000 or Gemtac.

Watch your fingers if you use the hot glue gun! I got a blister from it as I was filming a video and didn't want to flinch. Silly me! Next time I'll try E6000.