How to Make a Jean Pocket Coin Purse

Make this cute coin purse from the front pocket of an old pair of jeans. This is a quick and easy project that’s suitable for beginners, and would make an excellent gift. Use it as a stocking stuffer, or as a creative way to give money or a gift card.

Let’s make one together!

Jean Pocket Coin Purse Tutorial

What You’ll Need:

An old pair of jeans
A zipper
Thread
A ruler
Scissors
Sewing pins or sewing clips
A sewing machine (This is the machine that I have)
A zipper foot

Optional (but nice to have):

An air or water-soluble marker
A self-healing cutting mat
A rotary cutter (This is the one I have)

I’m going to show you a really easy way to shorten a zipper, so there’s no need to track down a zipper that’s the perfect length for the top of your coin purse, but I do recommend using a nylon zipper for this project. You can buy big bundles of zippers on Amazon for next to nothing. Seriously, you might pay $.10 a zipper.

What You Do:

Spread the jeans out on your work surface, and determine where you’re going to make your cuts to remove the front pocket. Try to avoid rivets, belt loops and thick seams. If any of these are close to your cuts, they could pose sewing challenges.

Kid’s and junior’s jeans don’t have a lot of surface area to work with, so the jeans will probably dictate how big your coin purse can be. If you’re working with a pair of men’s or women’s jeans, you’ll have more room to decide.

Your finished coin purse will be 1/2-inch shorter and narrower than your cut piece, so be sure to take that into account.

For the front pocket to remain functional, it’s important to preserve the pocket lining. Before you make your cuts, make sure the lining is open, and lying flat. The lining will likely extend past where you plan to make your bottom cut, and that’s okay. Just cut straight across the lining, when you make your bottom cut. This will cut off the bottom seam of the lining, but that’s okay. It’ll get closed back up when you sew your coin purse together.

If you plan to use a rotary cutter to cut the front pocket out, take a pair of scissors, and cut a slit down the side of the jeans. Then, move the back of the jeans out of the way, so you won’t cut through them. This will allow you to save the back pockets for another project.

Once you’ve cut out the front pocket, cut out a rectangle of denim the same size from one of the pants legs.

Pro Tip: Use a couple pins or sewing clips to hold the pocket in place, so it doesn’t slide out of its proper position.

Lay your jean pocket face up on your work surface. Then, flip your zipper upside down, and pin or clip it to the top edge of the pocket piece.

If your zipper is longer than the top of your coin purse, just center the zipper up, so that the excess hangs over both ends of purse.

Attach the zipper foot to your sewing machine, and sew the zipper to the top of the pocket. If you don’t have a zipper foot, you can do this with a regular foot. You just won’t be able to sew as close to the zipper.

Now, fold the zipper back …

and pin the other piece of denim to the edge of the zipper, right side down.

Flip the piece over, so the zipper is on top, and sew a straight line down the side of the zipper, to connect it to the coin purse. This is what you should have when you’re done.

Make sure the pocket lining is free of the zipper. Then, sew a seam down both sides of the zipper. This will keep the pocket lining from getting stuck in the zipper when you open and close your coin purse.

Unzip the zipper until it’s three-quarters of the way down the coin purse. Then, pin or clip the two pieces of denim good sides facing. Make sure the two sides of the zipper also line up. Then, sew a 1/4-inch seam around all three sides. Sew all the way up to the top of the zipper.

Now, go back and zig-zag stitch inside the 1/4-inch seam that you created. This will keep the raw edges from unraveling. I recommend a stitch width of four.

Since coin purses tend to hold a lot of weight, zig-zag stitch around the edge a second time to reinforce the seam.

If the pocket lining didn’t get sewn shut when you closed the bottom seam of your coin purse, sew it shut now.

Then, make sure the zipper is still on the part of the track that’s going to be part of your finished coin purse. and, cut the excess from the two ends. If you used a nylon zipper, it should be easy to cut, but I still recommend using something other than your good fabric scissors to cut them.