Tutorial: How to make Duct Tape Purses!

Over Labor Day weekend, I got to go to my Grandparents’ cabin at Fish Lake, Utah, and it was a BLAST! My Mom, who always plans fun activities for the family, brought the materials to make Duct Tape Purses. After I saw the creativity…I just HAD to show you all how to make them. šŸ™‚

Below is my daughter Oaklyn’s creation:  I thought her purse turned out very cute!

Duct Tape Purse

Materials needed:
* A few rolls of Duct tape. (Wal-Mart has a great selection of colored duct tape…it is “duck” brand duct tape. It costs around $3.50 a roll).
* Scrap fabric to go on the inside of your purse
* Large grommets
* Rope for the strap
* Scissors
* A flat work space

Step 1: Choose what size you want your purse to be and cut a piece of fabric for the inside of your purse. Take note that your purse will be half the size of your fabric.

Step 2: Tape your fabric face down to the table to secure it in place.

How to make a duct tape purse

Step 3: Decide what kind of colors and pattern you would like to do on your purse. Oaklyn chose these colors in this order: green, leopard, hot pink, and tie dye. She also wanted to do her pattern on a diagonal. Sidenote: I have to admit, I was a little scared at how it would turn out…I thought it might be a bit crazy…but when it got done, I loved it. (Plus, it fits my daughter’s personality perfectly!)

Step 4: Start covering your fabric with your colors and pattern. Make sure that your duct tape covers all of your fabric. You will need to go past the fabric an inch or so to do this. You will also need to overlap your duct tape as you go.

We started at one corner and worked our way to the opposite corner. We taped it right to the table.

Step 5: Carefully peel off your tape and turn it over.

Step 6: Cut off the excess tape along the edge

Step 7: Turn over your purse.

Step 8: Pick a color or pattern of duct tape for your seams. Fold your fabric in half to start securing your seams. We found it was easier to lay the duct tape on the table while we taped the sides of the purse together.

Step 9: Tape both sides of your purse shut. (Not the top). šŸ™‚

This may be a better picture to understand which sides to tape. šŸ™‚ After you have taped the sides, trim the excess tape off with scissors.

Step 10: Here is the tricky part…I tried to take good pictures to illustrate what you do next. Tuck in the botton edges of your purse. It should look like this:

And it should look like this while standing up:

And this is what the inside should look like:

Step 11: Tape across bottom of the INSIDE of your purse

Step 12: Tape up the sides of the INSIDE of your purse, and trim off the excess tape.

Step 12: Tape along the top edge of your purse, all the way around the purse opening. This part is a bit of a challenge, so don’t worry if your duct tape bunches a little.

Step 13: Measure how long you want your strap or straps to be. Cut the rope and cover it with duct tape.

Step 14: Follow the directions on the grommet package to insert grommets into the position of your choice.

Step 14. Insert strap into the grommets and secure the strap. We taped the strap into place or we tied knots to secure them.

VOILA!….Your purse it complete!

Here are a few more examples that my Mom and Sisters made too!

Think of the possibilities!!! We had a few purses with the tape stripes going vertical and horizontal, but I didn’t get any pictures of them. They turned out darling too!  My niece made hers to be big enough to carry her piano books. My Mom even made some wallets for the boys. I wish I would have taken better pictures of the wallets. The duct tape comes in camouflage, so the boys loved it too! What a fun kids’ craft project!

Published on March 17, 2020

61 thoughts on “Tutorial: How to make Duct Tape Purses!”

  7. This is so cool! I'm always looking for fun activities to do while babysitting my younger cousins and they'd love to make their own purses. I can only imagine what crazy combinations they'd come up with! Thanks for the awesome tutorial.

    Reply

  13. Jaime,
    I was just double checking the post to make sure I explained that! šŸ™‚ I'm glad you found it. Good luck!

    Reply

  15. Just came over from "Someday Crafts" where she highlighted these Duct Tape purses (congrats on being highlighted!!). I never knew Duct Tape came in so many colors and patterns now! Great job, and fantastic tutorial!!! Thanks!
    Debbie

    Reply

  17. Is it okay if I want one of these for myself? šŸ™‚ I need to find some blue and gold duct tape so I can make a coordinating bag to take to college football games.

    Reply

  28. I love this idea. I can't wait to try it with and/or for my 4 granddaughters. And, Amanda, I'm going to check out your wallets for my grandson. I think he would like one in camo.

    Reply

  32. This is so cute! What a great thing to do for a birthday party craft too! Thank you for letting us share this great link with our Bonbon Break readers!! I know our readers are going to love your site!

    Reply

  33. I came into a roll each of hot pink and black, and I've been all over the web, trying to find purse instructions. Yours is by FAR the simplest and most direct, and I like having the fabric lining. I have some pink and black "skully" trim that I'm going to try to incorporate (I also have cupcake trim…which way should I go?!). I just LOVE this! You're so wonderful to share this tute!

    Reply

  37. very cute….it's also very easy to add a zipper if you want one….when you add your trim around the top of the purse put the trim on a zipper first…or add the trim with zipper before you tape the sides together….but you did an amazing job

    Reply

  38. My daughter and I made this and it was so easy! Thank you for the great tutorial! I have a magazine for young girls (For Girls Like You)and I would love to include this post in an upcoming issue! We recently sent you and email. Hope you got it and will consider!

    Reply

  39. My daughter and I made this and it was so easy! Thank you for the great tutorial! I have a magazine for young girls (For Girls Like You)and I would love to include this post in an upcoming issue! We recently sent you and email. Hope you got it and will consider!

    Reply

  42. So glad I found this! Made them yesterday with two 10 year old girls and we will do more after we make wallets. Thanks for the step by step instructions.

    Reply

    1. No, you just use one long piece of fabric and fold it in half. After you tape the sides of the purse, you need to fold and tuck the bottom. Make a small triangle fold and tuck it into the side on the bottom so that the purse will stand up. Hopefully this helps. Look at the picture of the purse on the inside before we taped inside and hopefully that will help.

      Reply

  45. WOW!!!!!!! Super amazing idea the girl scouts love them. One of the girls even started her own buisness and sells them at the fleamarket and on ebay.
    thanks so much for the tutorial. C:

    Reply

  46. This is a fantastic idea, i just made mine and it took 45 minutes! We will be making these at girls camp this summer.Thank you so much for sharing:-)

    Reply

  47. I love this tutorial! I used it a while back too and just re visited it. I found i was able to simplify a bit though, like for ex, i dont tuck the bottom sides in because i dont need the bag to stand up. And you dont need grommets , you can just poke holes through and run the rope through that way. I may try the grommets with my latest bag though. you can check out my latest creation on my site. you may have to look through the pics depending on when you read this post šŸ™‚

    Reply

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