Preparing a Faux Leather Base for a Purse

 I have a project in the works that is a crochet purse with a faux leather base.  This is an idea that I have been working on for quite some time.  I have lots of ideas for similar style projects, so I thought I would do a separate post that explains how to prepare the base.

For this project you will need:
Faux leather/vinyl/or other similar material (check in the upholstery section of your fabric store)
Rotary cutter
Straight Edge
Cutting mat
Scissors
Sharpie
Pen
Sewing Machine
Denim weight needle for the sewing machine
Leather rotary punch with a size 3.2 mm tip
Large eye needle

In this example I am preparing a base that will have a finished measurement of 12″ long, 4″ wide, and 2 1/4″ tall. The instructions are based on these measurements. In the future, if the base size changes, I will give you the required measurements but the process of preparing the base will stay the same.

Please note that there is some pretty heavy duty math involved to come up with these measurements. The measurements and amount of holes needs to be exact. I have done all the hard work of figuring that out for you, but if you do not follow the measurements and numbers exactly, your purse project will not work.

Step 1. Cut a rectangle that measures 17 3/4″ x 9 3/4″.

Step 2. On the back side of the rectangle, measure in 2 5/8″ from each edge. With a sharpie, draw lines to mark this measurement. You will see that the lines meet at each corner to create a 2 5/8″ square. On the opposite side from the square, mark a line 1/4″ from the line just made. This is your seam allowance line. There is no need to draw this line all the way across, in fact it will be less confusing if you do not. Your rectangle should now look like the following picture.  (I drew my seam allowance line all the way across on the right side, ignore that.)

Step 3. Now measure in 3/8″ from each edge and mark this line with a pen. There is no need to draw this line all the way through the corner squares. Once you have this line made, with your sharpie, mark dots 1/4″ apart all the way around. I started the first dot about 1/8″ from the seam allowance line. You should have 48 dots on each long side, and 16 dots on each short side. Your rectangle should now look like the following picture.

And here is a close up of how your dots should look.

Step 4. Now, with a sharp pair of scissors, cut out those corner squares. Remember to cut on the outermost line, not the seam allowance line. Your piece should now look like the following picture.

For this project, your long sides should now measure 12 1/2″ and your short sides should measure 4 1/2″.

Step 5. Now it’s time to sew. With right sides together, fold the first corner together and sew on your seam allowance line. Continue sewing all the way through the point that it creates. Look at the following picture to see what I mean.

Follow the sewing instructions for the remaining 3 corners and turn right side out.  You will now have a “box”. This is your base.

Step 6. Now, take your leather rotary punch with the 3.2 mm tip, and punch out each of those dots that you marked. (It is not absolutely necessary to do this with a leather punch, but it will make the project a lot easier. On my prototype purse, I used a large needle without making the holes. It was do-able, but difficult. If you decide to stick with just the needle, skip this step and go to step 7.)

Step 7.  Creating the chain stitch.  This row of stitching will act as your starting chain for the crochet part of your purse. Start with the yarn that you will crochet the first row of your purse with, in this case, the first color is black. Thread a long piece of yarn onto a large needle.  I used around 6 yards total but you can work with shorter pieces and tie a new piece on to continue stitching.  Just make sure that you tie the new piece on the back side of your work.  Bring the needle up through the first hole, make a loop, and put the needle back down through the same hole and up through the next hole, keeping the yarn loop just made under the needle.  See the picture below.  Pull your yarn through but do not pull it too tight.  You will be crocheting using the loop just made and you want to be able to get your crochet hook under the stitch.

The following picture shows what your first finished stitch should look like.

Continue to chain stitch by making your loop, putting the needle back down through the same hole that you just came up through, and bringing the needle up through the next hole and over the loop just made.

Continue stitching all the way around, working one stitch for each hole. When working the last hole, you will bring the needle up through the first hole that you started working in. Put the needle back down through the same hole, but make sure you place the needle on the opposite side of the yarn that is already in the hole. This will keep your last stitch from pulling out. Tie off your yarn in the back. You should now have 128 stitches and your base is complete and ready to start crocheting.

You may not reproduce or copy my pattern or images in any way. You may link to my pattern from another site. You may sell items made from my pattern as long as you give me credit.