How to Make a Puffy Quilted Purse With a Cross-Body Strap

Tools and materials:

• Faux leather or canvas fabric
• Lining fabric
• Interfacing
• Pillow stuffing or padding
• Thread
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Strap hardware
• D-rings
• Closing fasteners
• Sewing pins
• Sewing machine

1. Cut your cross-body bag pieces

Follow the measurements in the image above to cut all of the pieces for your cross-body bag fabric and your lining fabric.

2. Add interfacing

Using a basting stitch, sew a thin piece of interfacing fabric to the outer edge of the fabric of the largest cross-body bag rectangle. Leave a 10-centimeter opening in the stitches.

3. Stuff the cross-body bag

Use the opening to stuff the rectangle with some old pillow stuffing, or padding.

Draw vertical and horizontal lines on the wrong side of the bag, 5 centimeters apart, to achieve a checkerboard look.

Sew along all of those lines to make your cross-body bag look quilted. Try to keep the stuffing evenly distributed in the bag as you sew.

4. Make cross-body bag handles

With right sides facing in, fold your handle rectangles in half lengthwise and sew along the long open edges.

Turn the handles right side out and stuff them with pillow stuffing.

5. Add bag clasps to the lining

Follow the video from 1:46 to 2:16 to see how I attached bag clasps to the lining.

6. Make strap holders

With the smallest cross-body fabric rectangles, fold the long edges into the middle and then fold them in half again. Then, topstitch the strap holders along their long open edge.

Slide the strap holders through your D-rings.

7. Attach the handles

Pin and sew the handles to each of the short sides of your quilted rectangle, as shown in the image above. If you want your handles to be shorter, just pin and sew them accordingly.

Trim off the excess handle fabric.

Pin and sew your two strap holders to opposite corners of the large rectangle.

8. Sew the side seams

With the right side facing in, fold the rectangle in half and sew both side seams closed.

Repeat this step with the lining.

9. Create the bottom of the bag

With the cross-body bag inside out, fold one bottom corner sideways to make a triangle. Then sew along the long edge of the triangle. Repeat on the other bottom corner of the bag and both bottom corners of the lining.

Trim the excess fabric from the triangles.

10. Attach the lining to the bag

With right sides facing, insert the cross-body bag into the lining. 

Notice that the lining is shorter than the outer bag. Make sure to pull the lining up so the top edge of the lining aligns with the top edge of the outer bag. Pin the lining to the bag. Sew all around the top edge, leaving a 5-centimeter gap, to attach the lining to the outer bag.

Now you can turn the whole bag right-side out through the gap.

Close the gap by folding the raw edge inside the bag. Shuffle the lining around so that the bag fabric is pulled slightly inwards.

Topstitch along the whole circumference of the bag at the top of the lining.

11. Make the cross-body strap

If you needed two pieces of fabric to make each of the long cross-body strap rectangles, then sew them together so you have two long rectangles. Then hem each of the short edges of each rectangle.

With right sides together, sew the long edges of the two rectangles together. When sewing, taper the ends of the cross-body strap so they are a little narrower than the middle.

Cut off the excess fabric at the tapered ends and turn the cross-body strap right-side out. Then topstitch the entire strap on each long side.

12. Add the cross-body strap hardware

Follow the video from 6:42 to 7:39 to attach the hardware to the cross-body strap.

How to make a quilted purse

Just attach your cross-body strap to the D-rings, and your quilted cross-body bag is all done. I love how puffy it is, and that I have the choice of the cross-body strap or the handles.

The neutral color of my quilted cross-body bag means it goes with everything. I hope you make one for yourself and leave a comment to let me know how it turned out.