Metal Frame Purse

My first metal frame purse

I love metal frame coin purse for its kissing lock closure. I would love it even more if it is made with my favorite ethnic fabric. From my stash of exotic collection of ethnic textiles in my treasure drawer, I picked this embroidery on a round material done by the Dong minority people in Guizhou Province of China for this project. This is one of my projects for a workshop to design handmade crafts with the Yi minority people in China last year.

I used home decor fabric for the purse because heavy weigh fabric would hold the purse firm and also to create a more expensive finishing. The fabric came from a friend who runs curtain and upholstery business. He was very generous to allow me to pick some remnants material from his workshop when he heard that it was for a voluntary project with the minority people in China.

A side and bottom panel to create volume for the purse

Both front & back sides have the same embroidery work 

My Little Jaipur is hibernating, but I am not.
The interior has a compartment for mobile phone.

The textured green home décor fabric creates a strong contrast
to the embroidery on a red fabric.

Metal frame with kissing lock

I went around the city and finally found the metal frame in a sewing and festive decoration supplies shop in China Town, located right next to the Purple Cane Tea House in Kuala Lumpur. Choices were, of course, limited and the prices were expensive. I bought two with each cost RM14 (about 4 USD). I was told that it is made in Korea and the quality is better...in comparison with Chinese products. Later I found an online shop operated from Malaysia- MayMayShop who offers better deal and choices. There are some Chinese dealers online who could offer an unbelievable price as low as RM0.25 (0.08USD) each when you purchased above 100 pieces. I could get a delivery address in China but to ship them to Malaysia is a problem. Additionally, I am most concern the quality and condition of the goods.

Since this was the biggest sew-in frame that I could find, I made the bottom of the purse bigger and added the side/bottom panel for volume as I wanted it to be a sling bag instead of coin purse. The metal chain can be easily obtained from jewelry supplies shop in China Town, Kuala Lumpur. I couldn't find a frame with loops to attach the chain to, so I made the loops on the purse.

I learned the basic guide of making a metal frame purse from a sewing book but modified the purse to my own design. Once you know the basic rules, you can create many different shapes. As for now, this might be the first of its kind of metal frame sling bag/purse with ethnic embroidery.


Click here to check out on my friend's blog - Meiteddybear for more coin purses. The coin purse shown below was made by her and if you wish to purchase any coin purse from her, provide the code " Yann's Journal CP" to enjoy 10% off.

Front view

Back view

For tutorial, click " I like orange too" blog , the blogger sells this type of metal frame on her etsy shop.