10+ Coin Purse Knitting Patterns You’ll Actually Want to Make
There’s something quietly satisfying about a coin purse. It’s small enough to finish in a single evening, useful enough to carry every day, and personal enough to feel like a genuine gift when you hand one to a friend. If you’ve been knitting for a while and haven’t made one yet, you’re missing out on one of the most rewarding quick projects in the craft. And if you’re new to knitting, a coin purse is honestly one of the best places to start — the stakes are low, the time investment is minimal, and the result is something functional you’ll actually use.
This post rounds up more than ten coin purse knitting patterns ranging from dead-simple beginner rectangles to cleverly structured little bags with gussets, cables, and colorwork. Whether you’re digging through your stash for scraps or buying yarn specifically for this project, you’ll find something here that suits your skill level, your aesthetic, and your schedule.
Let’s get into it.
Why Knit a Coin Purse?
Before we dive into the patterns, it’s worth pausing on why coin purses make such great knitting projects in the first place.
For starters, they use almost no yarn. Most coin purse patterns call for less than 50 grams of fingering or DK weight yarn, which makes them the perfect scrap-buster. That lonely leftover skein from a pair of socks? It was born for this project. You can also use this as an opportunity to try an expensive yarn you’ve been too nervous to commit to in a larger quantity — a single skein of cashmere or hand-dyed indie yarn goes a long way when your canvas is this small.
They also finish fast. Even a knitter working at a moderate pace can complete a simple coin purse in two or three hours. If you’re the kind of crafter who struggles to finish large projects, having a few coin purses in your queue gives you that hit of completion that keeps creative energy alive.
And practically speaking, coin purses are always needed. They hold change, obviously, but also earbuds, jewelry when you travel, small cosmetics, medication, guitar picks, sewing notions, and a dozen other small items that tend to float around loosely in the bottom of a bag. Handknit coin purses also make charming, low-cost gifts that feel genuinely thoughtful rather than generic.
What You Need to Get Started
Most coin purse projects use a short list of supplies. Here’s what you’ll typically need:
Yarn: Fingering weight (also called sock weight) is the most common choice because it creates a dense, durable fabric when knit at a slightly tighter gauge than usual. DK and worsted weight yarns work beautifully too, especially if you want a chunkier, more casual look. Avoid very fluffy or fuzzy yarns for your first attempt — they make it harder to see your stitches and harder to seam neatly.
Needles: Depending on the yarn weight, you’ll typically use needles in the US 1–7 range (roughly 2.25mm to 4.5mm). Some patterns use double-pointed needles for working in the round; others use straight needles and seam the pieces afterward.
A zipper or frame clasp: Most coin purse patterns close with either a metal purse frame (the kind with a snap closure that you sew or glue into the knitted piece) or a zip closure. Both are widely available at craft stores and online. Purse frames come in many widths — 3-inch and 4-inch frames are the most common for coin purse sizes.
A tapestry needle: For seaming and weaving in ends.
Optional: Stitch markers, a row counter, and interfacing or lining fabric if you want a structured finish.
10+ Coin Purse Knitting Patterns to Try
1. The Classic Rectangle Coin Purse
If you want to start somewhere with zero intimidation, this is your pattern. You knit a simple rectangle in whatever stitch you like — stockinette, garter, seed stitch, ribbing — fold it in half, seam the sides, and attach a metal purse frame along the top edge. The whole thing works on two needles and involves no shaping whatsoever.
The beauty of this design is how much variety you can create from the same basic structure. Work it in a single color for a minimalist look. Add a stripe or two for color interest. Use seed stitch for texture. Because the rectangle is small, even a complicated colorwork motif stays manageable. This is also an excellent pattern for using up short lengths of yarn since the project is so compact.
To make this pattern, cast on enough stitches to match the width of your purse frame, knit until the piece measures twice the depth you want, fold, seam, and attach your frame. Most knitters working with fingering weight will cast on somewhere between 30 and 50 stitches.
2. The Garter Stitch Scrap Purse
Garter stitch — knitting every row — creates a thick, squishy, wonderfully sturdy fabric that’s ideal for a coin purse. It’s also reversible, which means there’s no right or wrong side to keep track of. This version is worked in horizontal stripes using leftover yarn, making it a perfect scrap project.
The trick to beautiful garter stripes is changing colors at the beginning of a right-side row, which keeps your color joins tidy. Even if your yarn scraps are all different weights, you can often make it work by adjusting tension slightly or simply embracing the organic, handmade character of the finished piece.
Finish this one with a zipper sewn along the top edge, or add a simple button loop closure if you’d rather skip the zipper. A lining sewn from a coordinating cotton fabric adds a polished touch.
3. Cabled Coin Purse
Cables on a coin purse sounds fancy, but because you’re working on a tiny scale, even a single simple cable running up the center of the piece creates a stunning effect. A four-stitch or six-stitch rope cable down the center of a fingering-weight stockinette rectangle transforms a basic project into something that looks genuinely impressive.
If you’ve never done cables before, a coin purse is actually an ideal place to learn. You’re crossing stitches over a very short number of rows, so if you make a mistake, it’s easy to spot and easy to fix. By the time you’ve finished the purse, you’ll have practiced your cable cross enough times to feel confident taking the technique into a larger project.
Work this pattern on straight needles, seam the sides, and finish with a metal purse frame for a clean, polished look. The structured frame complements the structured look of the cables beautifully.
4. Colorwork Fair Isle Coin Purse
Fair Isle colorwork involves carrying two colors of yarn across each row to create patterned motifs — geometric shapes, small florals, snowflakes, chevrons, and more. The technique sounds complex, but because coin purses are so small, you’re only working with short, manageable repeats. Many colorwork coin purse patterns use a single motif repeated two or three times across the width of the piece.
Working in the round is particularly pleasant for colorwork because you always see the right side of your work, making it easier to follow your pattern. Knit a small tube on double-pointed needles, close the bottom with a three-needle bind-off or a simple seam, and add a zipper or frame to the top.
Scandinavian-inspired motifs work especially well at this small scale. Look for patterns using snowflakes, reindeer, hearts, or geometric border patterns — these tend to have clear, bold repeats that translate beautifully even in miniature.
5. Mitered Square Coin Purse
A mitered square is a clever bit of knitting geometry where you cast on stitches along two sides of a triangle and decrease your way to the center, creating a square with a diagonal line across it. When you knit two mitered squares and sew them together, you get a coin purse with built-in visual interest from the decrease lines, no colorwork required.
Work each square in a single color or use two colors — one per triangle — for a graphic color-blocked effect. The mitered structure gives the fabric a subtle three-dimensional texture that looks far more complex than the technique actually is.
This is a great option if you have two partial balls of yarn in complementary colors and want to use them both without committing to a full colorwork project.
6. Felted Coin Purse
Felting — running a knitted wool piece through a hot wash cycle to shrink and mat the fibers — creates a thick, dense fabric that holds its shape without any additional structure. Felted coin purses are wonderfully sturdy, and the felting process is forgiving: small inconsistencies in tension and even minor mistakes disappear into the matted surface.
To felt successfully, you need to use a non-superwash wool (or a wool/alpaca blend). Superwash yarns are specifically treated to resist felting, so they won’t work for this technique. Natural, undyed, or plant-dyed wools tend to felt most reliably.
Knit your coin purse about 30% larger than your target finished size, felt it in a hot wash with agitation, check it regularly, and reshape it while it’s still damp. Attach a zipper once the piece is fully dry. The result is a practically indestructible little bag that will last for years.
7. Textured Seed Stitch Coin Purse
Seed stitch alternates knit and purl stitches within each row (and offsets them row to row, so every stitch is purled above a knit and knit above a purl). The result is a beautifully bumpy, reversible fabric with no curl or rolling — which makes it excellent for coin purses since you don’t need to worry about edges curling inward when you’re attaching your closure.
A seed stitch coin purse in a single rich color — a deep teal, a warm mustard, a classic navy — looks understated and elegant. Because the stitch pattern does all the visual work, there’s no need to add colorwork or cables to make the finished piece interesting.
Work this on straight needles in a simple rectangle, or shape it slightly by decreasing toward a rounded bottom for a more polished silhouette.
8. Ribbed Coin Purse with Drawstring
Ribbing — alternating columns of knit and purl stitches — creates a stretchy, elastic fabric that’s naturally cozy to the touch. For a coin purse, ribbing works especially well when you skip the frame or zipper entirely and use a drawstring closure instead.
Knit a small tube in the round using 2×2 or 1×1 ribbing, working a series of yarn-over eyelets near the top to create drawstring holes, and thread a length of cord, ribbon, or twisted I-cord through the holes to gather the top closed. The resulting purse has a charming, informal look — almost like a tiny moneybag — that suits children’s gifts beautifully and also works well for holding lavender sachets, bath salts, or other small gifts.
This is also one of the most beginner-friendly patterns on this list since there are no seams, no hardware, and no special techniques beyond basic ribbing in the round.
9. Lace Coin Purse
Lace knitting uses deliberate yarn-overs paired with decreases to create decorative holes in the fabric. On a small coin purse, a simple lace pattern creates a delicate, feminine look that’s particularly lovely for gifts. Choose a lining fabric in a complementary color so the lining peeks through the lace openings — the effect is charming.
Because lace purses have open holes in the fabric, they work best with a zipper closure rather than an open drawstring, which keeps the contents from falling through the gaps. Sew a zipper tape to the wrong side of the top edge for a neat finish, and add a coordinating fabric lining to give the purse structure and prevent small items from escaping through the lace.
Simple lace patterns — eyelets in a diamond arrangement, a leaf motif, a simple faggoting stitch — all work well at this small scale without becoming overwhelming.
10. Intarsia Color Block Coin Purse
While Fair Isle uses yarn carried across the full width of the row, intarsia uses separate bobbins of color worked in distinct blocks. On a coin purse, this allows you to create bold, graphic color-block designs — a horizontal band of color across the center, a large initial letter, a simple geometric shape — without the floats of Fair Isle across the back.
Intarsia requires managing multiple yarn sources, which can feel fiddly, but the limited size of a coin purse means you’re dealing with small sections and the whole thing stays manageable. A simple two-color initial on the front panel makes a personalized, thoughtful gift, especially if you match the recipient’s favorite colors.
11. Double-Knit Coin Purse
Double knitting produces two layers of fabric simultaneously on a single set of needles, with the colors reversed between the two layers. The finished fabric is thick, warm, and has a neat finished edge on all sides — no seaming required along the sides if you plan your cast-on and bind-off carefully.
This technique is more advanced than most of the other options on this list, but the results are spectacular. The purse has a professional, polished look, the fabric is durable, and the two-color design on each side is perfectly mirrored. If you’ve been knitting for a couple of years and want to challenge yourself with a quick, contained project, double knitting on a coin purse is a wonderful way to learn the technique.
12. Brioche Coin Purse
Brioche knitting creates a deeply textured, reversible fabric with a squishy, almost pillowy quality. It uses a combination of yarn-overs and slipped stitches to create its distinctive look. Two-color brioche — where you alternate two colors to create a bold, graphic texture — is particularly striking on a coin purse.
The brioche fabric is quite thick, which means it holds its shape well without any lining or additional structure. Attach a simple metal frame to the top edge and you have a sophisticated-looking little bag that showcases an impressive technique in a manageable format.
Tips for Finishing Your Coin Purse
The knitting part of most coin purse projects is quick, but the finishing can make or break the final result. A few tips to help your purse look its best:
Block your knitted piece before attaching any hardware. Even a quick damp blocking — wetting the piece, pinning it to its finished dimensions, and letting it dry — smooths the fabric, evens out tension, and makes it much easier to sew a zipper or frame cleanly.
When attaching a metal purse frame, use a tapestry needle and a length of sturdy thread (upholstery thread or waxed linen thread work well) to whipstitch the knitted fabric to the holes or channels in the frame. Work slowly and keep your stitches even. Some knitters prefer fabric glue for this step — both approaches work, but sewing gives a more secure, durable attachment.
If you’re sewing in a zipper, baste it in place with pins or wonder clips before sewing it permanently. Zippers are surprisingly easy to install when you take this step, and surprisingly frustrating when you skip it.
A simple cotton or silk lining, hand-stitched inside the finished purse, makes the interior look clean and prevents small items from catching in the yarn. Cut your lining slightly smaller than your knitted piece, fold the edges under, and slip-stitch it in place along the top edge.
Where to Find These Patterns
Many of these pattern styles are available for free on Ravelry, the knitting community’s largest database of patterns. Search for “coin purse knitting pattern” and filter by technique, yarn weight, or difficulty level to find something that suits you. Ravelry also lets you sort by number of projects — patterns with thousands of projects have been tested by a large community, which is a good indicator of quality.
Etsy is another excellent source for independent designer patterns, many of which include beautiful photography and detailed instructions. Paid patterns from indie designers often come with more thorough support and are frequently available as instant downloads.
If you prefer working from books, look for general knitting pattern collections that include accessories — many such books include one or two coin purse or small bag patterns alongside their main projects.
Final Thoughts
Coin purses might be small, but they’re a genuinely versatile corner of the knitting world. From a beginner’s first textured rectangle to an advanced double-knit color study, the range of techniques you can apply to this compact canvas is remarkable. They’re fast enough to keep you motivated, small enough to finish, and useful enough to actually get used.
Whether you’re knitting one for yourself or making a small stack as gifts, you really can’t go wrong. Pick a pattern from this list that matches where you are as a knitter today, gather your
