Make your own leather-look handbag straps
All bag patterns already come with suggestions for straps and handles to sew for the bag, but this is one area of the bag where you can go to town and really customize it to exactly what you need.
There’s no doubt that adding the nicest straps, handles and hardware to your bags can really take your creations from home-made to the best hand-made designer look. But buying ready-made leather and leather-look straps and handles can be really expensive and you might not be able to find exactly what you need.
Luckily, there is an alternative. If you shop carefully for some nice vinyl you can quite easily create your own great-looking handles. And you can get a LOT of straps and handles from a single yard of vinyl. Even if you don’t feel confident in sewing the entire purse with vinyl, or adding in vinyl accents or panels, you can certainly add in vinyl straps.
Pop on over to see this fabulous tutorial from Janelle on how to create professional-looking faux-leather straps and handles, all with hidden edges and without super-thick seams to sew through.
When you are feeling inspired, do come back and check out these links to some of our recommended resources for where you can buy excellent vinyl and faux-leather fabrics online to really make your bags stand out from the crowd.
Learn how to sew your own faux leather handles
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