DIY Coffin Coin Purse

Ah, the new year- the death to a year and the start of change. Death. Change. Death change... Coffin coin purse!

Yup, that right there was my logic.

This project will come in two parts: the first will be my own attempt at a pattern tutorial (which you may or may not choose to use), and the second will be the coffin coin purse tutorial. Okay, now for the boring pattern tutorial.

You will need: a piece of paper, a ruler, a pencil, scissors, and patience. For my coffin, I measured out a box on the paper that was 18cm and 12.5 cm (Don't worry about the other markings, just focus on the red marker and make a rectangular box shape).

On the 12.5cm marking, mark the midway point which will be approx 6.5cm in from either side. Do the same at the other side of the box too.

Connect those marks and make a long vertical line going all the way up and down the box, like this:

Next, measure 6cm's down from the top of the coffin. Make several marks and conjoin them. Draw a line from side to side to connect the marks so it looks like this:

So now, there is a cross in the middle of the box you drew earlier. It should look something like this:

See? Super easy. Now, at the top of the "cross", make a mark 3cm on either side so it looks like this:

The same thing with the bottom of the "cross", make two 3cm markings like this:

Now, conjoin the marking on the left side to the left "arm" of the cross so you have a line like this:

The same with the bottom, join the left "arm" to the bottom 3cm marking we just made so it looks like this:

Do the same with the other side and you'll now have something resembling a coffin.

Cut it out with your scissors.

Flip it over to the plain side so there are no markings showing. This is going to be your main pattern piece for this project, so if you want wider "arms" or a longer coffin, make your alterations NOW. Otherwise, this will be your pattern.

Okay, now that we have our initial coffin pattern, let's get on with the sewing! You will need: two contrasting patterns of fabric, a zipper, scissors, pins, and a sewing machine (or some calloused fingers to sew it by hand). And, of course, your newly made coffin pattern piece.

Remember, this will be a coin purse. You probably want sturdier fabrics for this project, or at least a sturdy outside and a fancy satin lining for the inside. This was my first time making one, so I chose two fun yet sturdy fabrics. That way, you can see the inside (checkered black and white fabric) and the outside shell (black with grey swirls).

Fold your fabric in half and pin your pattern piece down on the fabric like this (or tape it down if you like). Leave room on the edges for seam allowance.

You should now have two similar pieces like this:

 Repeat the same for the other fabric.

 Voila!

Wrong sides together, pin one of the lining fabrics and one of the shell fabrics together. I decided to make my coffin messy and just sewed them together like this, but you can tuck your edges in for a nice, clean look if you choose.

Repeat for the other two pieces, you should now have two of these:

Open your zipper and pin it in place. You want it to go about 1/2 to 3/4 the way around.

Sew it into place. The zipper might look upside down, but once I flip the zipper over (like this below) and sew the other side of the zipper to my other coffin piece, it'll all line up properly.

Now that you've sewed your zipper to one side of the coffin, it'll look something like this:

Sew the other side of the zipper to the other side of the coffin, making sure that both pieces line up properly.

Flip it inside out and there it is, your own spooky coin purse!

I decided mine looked too plain and nice, so I added a zig-zag stitch to the inside rim of the zipper so it looks like this:

The inside lining looks good with the red stitching too. It looks hungry... for change!

Not too bad for my first time. It took me like 3 hours to make, but because I was altering my pattern and unstitching things I sewed improperly, etc. I doubt it'll take anyone following my perfectionist steps too long to make this little coin purse.

I hope you like this tutorial, now go spread some spooky change for 2012! <3!