Guest Post - Aleisha's placemat purse

My cute friend Aleisha made this fun purse and put it up on her blog. With her permission, I'm going to re-post her post here so you can try this out, too!

What to do on a June 8th day in Hurrican Utah? Make a cute little placemat purse with zipper and side wristlet handle!
Inspiration from vintage buttons and tin box from grandma and placemat on hand!
Items needed:
1 placemat
1 zipper as wide as the side of your placemat
length and width of webbing, cotton or nylon for strap/handle (I literally wrapped it around my wrist to measure what was comfortable to hold)
contrast fabric for strap/handle (at Wal-Mart I bought a fat-quarter for $1)
cute buttons for embellishments

Well now isn't this one of the cutest placemats you have ever seen? I bought it at K-Mart for $1.50 because I just knew it would make a cute purse.
I hand sewed the buttons on the center of the flowers using red thread. I have loved the red and turquoise combination since 5th grade. I used to think those were going to be my wedding colors:) Now I just use those colors together whenever I can.
The first thing you do is sew the zipper in. I am using my mother-in law's sewing machine, a singer 630. I had to look on the internet to learn how to thread it. It also has the knee peddle (read aaagh), not the foot peddle, thus, my lines are not as straight as they might normally be with my bernina. Folding the placemat in half, you are basically making a tube, sewing each of the shorter sides to the zipper.
At this point you could add a flat bottom by flipping the purse inside out and sewing a straight seam perpendicular across each bottom side of the purse. I decided against doing this because it interfered with my buttons on the outside of my purse.
Making sure you have unzipped your zipper half-way, sew up one side of your purse.
Make a tube of fabric to cover your webbing. You don't have to worry too much about the edges of the handle because they will be on the inside of your purse. Place handle on the right side of your purse (the side that will be the outside of your purse). Sew up that side of your purse. Flip it inside out, and voila! Cute, easy zipper clutch wristlet combo purse!