Easy Revamped Leather Crossbody Bag

Hi guys! I recently picked up a simple brown crossbody bag from Target. As I tend to hoard a little bit of everything in my huge purse, my shoulders needed a rest fromt the weight, so I picked up a small crossbody to fit the bill. I thought this little purse was cute as is, but I wanted to add a little vintage style to it. Luckily I had a vintage western bandana that I thought was perfect to add to my summer bag. Here is how I embellished my little tote:

What You Need:

*Crossbody Tote or Bag with a Flap Front

*Vintage Fabric, hanky, etc…

*Sewing Machine and Thread

*Fabric Glue

*Marking Pen and Scissors

*Iron

*Basting Spray (optional)

Instructions:

The first thing you need to do is iron out your fabric. Open the flap of the bag and lay it right side down onto the back side of your fabric. Make sure the fabric print will be going the right direction when the flap is flipped right side over. Mark where your flap is on your fabric. When you get to the back of the flap mark across. Then mark about a half inch or so out from that original line and add an inch or more to the back of the flap where it stopped. Cut the fabric on the new line.

Now fold under the half inch you just added to the original marking towards the back of the fabric and press all the way around. On the end you can leave it unpressed or press it up about a half an inch as it will tuck into the back pocket. Edge stitch by machine all the way around your fabric.

Now lay the fabric on the flap of your bag. Center it up. If it helps you can use some basting spray on the back side of the fabric to keep it in place, just don’t spray near the edges. Run a bead of fabric glue between the fabric and the flap around the edges of the flap. Smooth out the edges of the fabric on the glue glueing the fabric smoothly around the flap. Let the glue dry and you now have an updated bag. You can tie a little charm and glue some buttons on like I did, or leave it with just the fabric.

I love my new crossbody tote! I like the western look of it and the charm I added to the tassel! It is definitely a perfect summer bag for me. You can easily update any old bag you have with a flap using this method. It does not take much fabric either. I used part of a 14×14 bandana. If you are using a sheer fabric like a hanky, you should add some interfacing to the back of the sheer fabric first. This update took me about a half an hour to do and it was really easy! I hope you all will give it a try sometime! I’ll be back soon with more diy fun. Until then…