Frugal Friday

This is my first Frugal Friday at Biblical Womanhood!

I make cute totes from inexpensive placemats!

I have made several of these, most recently for Teacher appreciation week. Between the 4 of my boys there were 7 teachers that needed appreciating!

You will need a sewing machine but you don't have to be an experienced sewer; this could be a great beginners project since you don't need a pattern.

Materials:
-2 matching placemats (or just one for a small tote, I'll explain that later)
-about 3-4 feet of ribbon that coordinates with the placemats
-thread that matches your placemat

Put the placemats wrong sides together, making the edges even.

Starting at the top, sew down the short side, the bottom and then up the other short side.

Turn the purse right side out.

Decide how long and where you want your handles and mark them equally on both sides with pins.

Attach your ribbon using the pins to the purse and make sure everything matches up evenly.

Sew the ribbon on from the outside by making a square (or a square with an x if you want).

Then you are done! That was easy wasn't it?

To make the small tote you just fold up the placemat wrong sides together and sew up the sides; you attach the handles the same way.

I have found cheap placemats at Big Lots, Kmart, Dollar Tree, and (not so cheap) Target.

I try not to pay more than $1.50 per placemat.

Here are some pics:

I got these on clearance at Kmart:


This is an example of one of the smaller bags:


This is one I made from placemats I found at the Dollar Tree:

These were from Target: