DIY Soda Tab Purse

Similar to my chip bag purse, soda tab bracelet, and Capri Sun backpack, I decided to make a purse out of soda tabs! My mom saw a woman with one in a museum one time and said she wanted one. My college roommate also had one. I studied different pictures of bags online and designed my own by crocheting columns of a increasing/decreasing number of tabs.

I collected 1184 tabs to make the purse, and rinsed them all in water to clean the stickiness off. I started by crocheting the base of the purse in columns. Keeping the bottom of the purse at the same level, I varied the number of tabs in each column to produce a wavy top to the purse. (26-26-26-26-25-24-24-23-22-21-20-20-20-20-21-22-23-24-24-25-26-26-26-26-25-24-24-23-22-21-20-20-20-20-21-22-23-24-24-25 = 924).

letting the clean tabs dry on a towel

outside of the bag

inside of the bag

complete flattened-out body piece

complete body piece

I made the strap with 55 rows of 2 tabs (110 total).

completed soda tab strap and crocheted lining strap

wrapping crocheted strip inside the fabric

holding soda tab strap and padded fabric in place with sewing pins

sewing each tab in place

The bottom has 77 tabs, assorted in a round, in order to make the bottom flat.

crocheted loop for the bottom of the bag

shaped and crocheted in place

using an embroidery needle and matching cream crochet yarn to sew the bottom to the bag

completed tab shell of purse

looking inside the soda tab shell

bottom view

After crocheting all the pieces together, I lined the inside of the purse with a chenille fabric of thin white and brown stripes. I cut the fabric to size and sewed the edges to make a bag to fit inside, and added a zipper to the fabric bag. I had originally planned on adding snap buttons to the sides of the purse to be able to remove the fabric to wash, but instead decided to sew the fabric to the bag permanently.

sewed edge to prevent fraying and create a clean edge

fabric lining inside tab shell 

added zipper

My college roommate had a similar purse, but said that her hair often gets caught in the soda tabs on the strap when it bends and the tabs move around. I decided to line the strap with matching brown and white striped fabric both for comfort and to hold the tabs in place. I also crocheted a strip of the same size of the strap, which I wrapped inside of the brown and white fabric for additional padding. Being able to secure the strap's lining fabric to the bag's lining fabric also helped to create a more uniform look for the finished product. I attached the strap to either end of the bag.

attached strap

I gave the purse to my mom, along with a coin purse composed of 36 rectangular soda tabs. Either side of the coin purse has 18 tabs (6 tabs in interior circle, with 12 tabs around those), and are crocheted together, with a zipper going around the outside edge. I wanted to keep the purse looking consistent, so I made sure to use the same shape/size of rounded tab, and ended up with a lot of leftover tabs in different shapes and sizes. I plan to keep collecting more tabs to see what other projects I can come up with.

completed rounds for either face of the coin purse

added contrasting pink zipper

crocheted bottom

interior view

completed coin purse, exterior view

<3 Mandy

Crochet Egg Coasters

I have a lot of old yarn that my mom found, and wanted to practice crocheting and design some new patterns. Using some leftover white and yellow yarn, I decided to make these cute egg coasters, which I gave as a White Elephant gift with a pair of breakfast socks and a mug.

yellow yolk circle

irregular shape for the egg white

set of 4 egg coasters

complete breakfast gift

With some leftover white yarn I had, I also made a little mouse toy for my friend's kitties, Pickles and Zeisel.

Zeisel playing with his new toy under the couch

<3 Mandy

DIY Customized Coin Purse

My sister's wallet is very flat and only has space for cards and bills, so for her birthday, I made her a customized coin purse to fit her needs.

I started by sewing red and white fabric together; the final coin purse would have red on either side, and white along the bottom. I used a rectangle of felt to put inside the fabric and stiffen it. Fortunately, my red fabric had a checkered pattern on it, so I could trace the design with my needle to quilt the felt in place.

I cut smaller rectangles of a different red fabric, sewed felt inside, and made two little pockets. I sewed the pockets on the interior of the coin purse, the brown patterned fabric, which I sewed to the red/white outside piece.

Folding the piece inside-out, I sewed a dark purple zipper along the sides of the purse.

Since the coin purse is very small, I added little rectangles of matching brown patterned fabric to the inside sides of the coin purse as extenders, allowing the purse to open wider.

Here's how the final purse looks, with coins inside. The little red pockets are perfect for putting little things in, like stamps, collection coins, jewelry, band-aids, or anything else! I embroidered one of the pocket's with my sister's initials as a finishing touch.

<3 Mandy