Raggd3 - I use denim jeans, with 4 of us, we always have a supply, at least from the knees down after we cut them off, I just kept them to repair knees and the supply grew!
The purse size was based on one my daughter got at Target (a cloth one). Something like 14 x 18 inches? The handle, a long one/shoulder strap, was cut from the side seams, trimmed and left a little raggy/no finished ends. This one we decorated with diagonal stripes of different widths of rick rack/different colors too. The rick rack was given to me by
my mil when she cleaned out her basement, which was given to her when
her mil cleaned out her basement....
We slipped in a small draw bag of the same and put some money in it and then another small gift, forget what it was, inside the bag.