The full tutorial for making these DIY purse organizers is below, but if don’t want to make one yourself, I’ll make it for you! You can find these purse organizer inserts in my Etsy shop in a variety of colors!
I don’t know about you, but my purse is usually a mess! I have tons of little things floating around inside of it, and it’s pretty crazy trying to find anything smaller than my wallet. But this quick and easy DIY purse organizer insert I made out of a hot pad has totally helped!
This DIY handbag organizer is awesome! The plastic baggies protect my purse from spills and keep everything organized all in one place. It’s small enough to easily fit in my purses, and I can switch it from bag to bag. But it’s big enough that I can find it when I reach into my purse without hunting around for it. It’s perfect for any purse or handbag!
DIY Purse Organizer Tutorial
You only need a few things for this project, and you can customize the colors however you’d like!
- a hot pad (with the loop in the middle of a side, not at a corner)
- 6 Ziploc sandwich bags (about 6″ x 6″)
- a large button
- fabric and ribbon (optional, for decorating the outside)
- a sewing machine, or a needle and thread if you want to sew by hand
- sewing pins
If you want to decorate the outside of your purse organizer, do that first. I liked the fabric of the hot pads I found at the dollar store, but you can easily sew a square of fabric onto the outside of your hot pad if it’s boring.
I did pretty mine up a bit by sewing a ribbon across the “front”. The finished DIY purse organizer insert will be folded in half with the loop on the “back”, so take this into account when decorating.
Once the outside is decorated to your liking, it’s time to add the bags to the inside. Lay your Ziploc bags on top of the hot pad, alternating the orientation for each one so that the openings are on alternating sides. Line them up square with each other and pin them down so they don’t slide around while you sew. Make sure the bag openings face towards and away from the loop (like the picture below), not towards the “sides” of the hot pad.
Sew through the center of the bags with a zigzag stitch to attach them to the hot pad. If you want a bit of extra reinforcement, put a skinny piece of ribbon on top of the bags before you sew them down onto the hot pad so the stitches aren’t pulling directly on the plastic.
By sewing the bags down the middle, you basically just cut them in half: one half has the Ziploc opening and the other half is just the bottom of the bag. Cut off the extra “bottom” ends of all six bags, leaving the Ziploc opening sides as they are.
All that’s left is to sew a button onto the front of the hot pad. This way you can hook the loop around it to keep the purse organizer insert closed.
Now fill it up and enjoy your totally adorable and totally useful DIY bag organizer!
This little purse organizer insert is perfect for keeping all of the little things in my purse organized. I always like to be prepared, so I usually have cough drops and band-aids with me, and in the spring I always have extra allergy meds just in case.
If you want one for yourself, you can find them in my Etsy shop in a variety of colors!
Angela says
What a clever idea!!
Tammy says
Pinned this awesome idea! Thanks!
Ginger says
Brilliant! This will definitely be on my to do list. Thanks!
I’d love if you shared these at my Show & Tell party this week. http://www.gingerlymade.com/2013/02/show-tell-13.html
Marc says
Great! Wish I had a purse 🙂
Jessi @ Practically Functional says
Lol Dad! I can make you a “manly” one and you can stick it in your bike bag!
Crystal says
What a great idea!! I love that it holds all your little things that otherwise gets lost at the bottom of the abyss (or bottom of your purse). Can’t wait to make one!!
Christina @ Floridays Mom says
Terrific Idea! Like you said, my purse is a complete disaster and I love carrying big purses so everything just ends up floating around. Thanks for sharing!
Melissa B says
I love this idea! =)
Its such a cute organizer, just right for your purse.
ngnrdgrl says
I love it! I want to make some now. So cute and clever!
Christine says
What a nea idea to stay organized! My biggest problem in my purse is always receipts. If I ever put little stuff in there it usually gets lost forever so this is a great solution for that
Linda says
Great idea! I used to make a larger version of this for a travel bag using gallon size bags and a placemat.
Jessi @ Practically Functional says
Oh wow, what a great idea for packing in suitcases!