Tutorial: How to sew/make your own rolled purse handles

Okay, I searched long and hard to try to find a tutorial on these, but to no avail, so I decided to experiment with this myself. Looking at these things, you think, it can't be THAT hard, so I am taking a stab at it.

DISCLAIMER: I have not yet tried this, but once I have I will post my results. Please feel free to post your results on here as well. I will try to post pictures once I have tried this.

Materials needed:

Fabric of twice the width and length you want your handles plus seam allowance and extra room at each end for sewing onto your bag or hardware. For a 1 inch x 20 inch rolled handle, cut a 44 inch x 2.5 inch piece of fabric. You'll cut that in half, so you could also just cut 2 pieces 22" by 2.5". If you have thin fabric, you might consider a thin interfacing for stability. I'm going to guess canvas and leather or vinyl are fine (but you help me figure out if that's true)

Rope with 3/4 inch thickness (or 1/4 inch less than the total width of the handles) cut into the same length as your hand piece(s).


Directions:
1. Sew your handle fabric piece(s) right sides together with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.
2. Turn the handle so you have a tube with the right side of the fabric facing out.
3. Press your handle, keeping the seams on one side of the handle (not in the middle of it).
4. Put the rope through the handle tube. (You could use a safety pin to pull it through) Pin or baste it at the ends, keeping the rope towards the non-seamed portion of the handle so it doesn't slip.
5. (if you sewed one long handle) Cut the handle tube in half to make 2 handles and baste the ends of the tube as close to the non-seamed portion of the handles as you can. Keep about 1 inch or more on either end of the rope for sewing to your bag or ring.
6. Top stitch against the rope (but not through it) 1/4" from the seamed edge all the way down the handles, keeping the rope against the non-seamed edge.
7. Take out the basting and attach the handle to your bag or ring.

This should do it! Please post any comments or questions about this here and I'll try to post updates once I've tried this.