Santa Hat Purse Tutorial

I had a great time making these purses. Luckily, I bought 24 Santa hats after the holidays last year. I put them to good use and made each one into a purse. The lining and pocket adds a special touch.

You can make any type of handle. I have two different examples below: fabric and a wire handle with beads. You can make the fabric handles any length you desire. To make the fabric handles, I cut one piece of fabric on the fold, then pressed the cut edges in to the center. I placed a piece of Pelon inside the handle and top stitched four times, the length of the handle. The finished width of the handle was about 1 1/4 inch wide. I lined my purses, so the handle was sewn inbetween the lining and the hat. My handle fabric matched the lining fabric of each purse.

I purchased wire handles and added beads in the example on the right.






























This is the pattern I made for the purse lining. I lay the pattern over the Santa hat to cut off the top part, too. But be careful, as when you lay your hand on it, it tends to shift and may cause you to cut the top part too short. The top part is approximately 6" from the cut to the end of the ball.






















Here's a very poor drawing (made in Paint) that shows how the top of the hat is cut off. You also want to cut off the inside seam to separate the white cuff from the top of the hat. You will then have a circle of cuff fabric. Cut the seam off so you have a strip of white cuff fabric.













The seam allowance on all my seams (other than the basting) is 1/2". Sew the bottom of the Santa hat together (where you've cut it), right sides together. Turn right side out. Once you get the lining sewn together (right sides together), place it into the Santa hat. Be sure to mark the center of each side of the lining, as this will be important so that your placement of the handles is the same on each side.

You can see that I have the center of the lining marked with a straight pin (at the tape measure). Place your handles (these are 3" from center on each side) on both sides of the purse and pin them in place.






















I then pin the top of the hat in place as shown below. I have a pocket in my lining and I placed the top of the hat on the same side as the pocket. You can place it on either side of the hat. I then machine basted all in place at 1/4" seam allowance.






















Pin the cuff in place, fur side down, with the open seam at the side seam of the purse.




















Once the cuff is sewn into place, turn it out of the purse and sew the side seam of the cuff closed. turn everything right side out and you are finished.

I love jingle bells and on some of my purses I added a bow made from ribbon and used a safety pin to attach is from underneath. I then tied jingle bells to the ends of the ribbon. Use your imagination to embellish your purse.