How to make fringed handles for handbags

Fringed handles are easy to make once you use the right type of fabric.

The best fabric for this type of handle is one that ravels easily with think weft and warp yarn-dyed threads woven to make a design.

Materials

• Fabric strips (size of your handles)
• Pellon mid-weight (fusible or sewable)
• Thread to match
• 14 Rivets

Tools

• Kam tool
• Hole puncher
• Seam ripper
• Fabric erasable marker

Fabric Suggestions

The best fabrics to use to make fringed handles are:

Damask

Mostly used in drapery and as wallpaper, this fabric has a pattern that is reversible made with a single color yarn and different weaving techniques that make the pattern.  It can be very expensive if it is made of silk but today is most commonly made with polyester or rayon fibers.

Brocade 

It is a woven made pattern with two or more different color yarns.  Brocade has a raised pattern that makes it easy to ravel.

Linen

We have already written about this fabric so please take a look at its rich history.

Denim

Canvas

Duck

Raw Silk

Hessian or Burlap

How to make the fringed handles

These handles are for the Small Fringed Tote Bag we published last Sunday.  If you are planning to make a different bag with these handles, please adjust accordingly.

Cut the four pieces of strips and sew on two of them the interfacing.

Once you sew the interfacing, cover it with the other strip of fabric

and sew again using the stitching line left.

Stop 1/2″ before the end of the handles.

Create the fringe by pulling the threads using your seam ripper.  Stop two to four threads before the stitching line.

Mark the handles every one inch.  Use the punch holder to make the hole to insert the rivets.

Attach the sewing of the handles using a rivet.

If you have missed the full handbag pattern and tutorial, here it is.

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