{sewing tutorial: recovering purse handles}

I’m so excited! This is my very first ever Gussy tutorial! yeow! Are you ready? OK, good. Me too :]

I have had this yellow purse for a few years now — maybe 3 or 4 {back when we were dating}. Zack gave it to me for my birthday and I loooove it tons. There is kind of a funny story behind this, though :] I saw the purse in a magazine on a weekend home to visit his family. I had circled the purse in the magazine and stuffed it in his basket of clean laundry.

Didn’t want him to forget I liked it! ;)

Of course Zack came through and did buy it for me… but it just shows how much I wanted it and still love it. There have only been a few gift ideas I’ve shared with him where I circle its picture ten times and stick it somewhere I know he’ll see it!

So… because of the materials the purse is made from, the handles have gotten a little scraggly most recently. The handles were flaking and felt yucky whenever I carried it. I decided to Gussy it up a bit and put some colored fabric over the handles and bring it back to life :] And my shoulder.

Maybe you have a purse you’d like to fix up?

For this tutorial, you need a rotary cutter/mat, scissors, enough fabric for whatever you are re-covering, an iron and a sewing machine + matching thread.

Measure the width of your fabric, then double that amount so you can cover both sides of the strap. Give yourself a .25″ seam allowance. Cut your fabric and iron, pressing the edges so they lay flat and are hidden on the inside.

Carefully place your outer seam of fabric over the purse handles so the edge of the fabric lines up with the edge of the handle. Once you have everything in place, sew on the fabric, remembering to back stitch when you start and finish.

Repeat on the other side of the fabric {same handle, though}, giving your strap a symmetrical look to the stitch. Then repeat for the other handle.

Pretty!!! Don’t you think? I love how this turned out. The purple plaid is a nice contrast to the yellow and the star quilted pattern on the purse. Oh yes, this purse is quilted with stars :]

Looks brand new, but with a touch of Gus.

Even Paul Frank loves it. And Burt.

I’m already making a list of other fun tutorials to share with you guys. Hope you loved this! xoxo

PS. If you have any tutorial ideas feel free to leave a comment and share your idea.