photo HomeHeaderPages_zps121b83d7.jpg  photo AboutHeaderPages_zps6faf416f.jpg  photo ContactHeaderPages_zps0989aee4.jpg

Monday, April 14, 2014


Fabric - Swatch article #12276028
Brand - Robert Allen
Pattern - Frontier Ogee
Color - Henna
Bought From - JoAnn Fabrics online

 I finally finished one of the clutches I was working on. I've been ordering swatches of reupholstery fabric for the couch I'm planning on reupholstering, and so far I haven't liked anything I've ordered. The nice thing about these swatches is that they were about a square foot in size, and while that's too small to do a lot of things, it was the perfect size for a clutch.

Enough room to stack multiple cards in at once!


I have a bunch of pictures and a some 'how to' steps so if you want to see the whole construction, click the link below.




I started by cutting my fabric swatch into a 9 by 12" rectangle, I estimated that size allowing for a 1/2" seam allowance. I divided my 12" into three 4" sections and found the center of the 9" length and connected lines from the section to the first marked off 4" section in order to created the triangle/envelope point.


I then cut out an identical piece in the lining fabric, which was some pinkish brown cotton canvas I had in my scrap pile, and then placing right sides together I sewed the two pieces together along all of the sides, leaving a small hole that allowed me to turn everything inside out. I then hand-stitched the hole closed.


I wanted to make a pocket for money/coupons and then additional pockets for cards. Starting with the money pocket I cut two rectangles out to size in each fabric, factoring in the seam allowance. I sewed the wrong side of the main fabric to the right side of the lining fabric, since the majority of the lining fabric is hidden inside of the pocket. I folded over the edges and sewed it so when attached to the clutch you would only see the nice seams which you can see in the above right picture.



I then cut out a rectangle that matched the width and length of the next section out of the three for the clutch and 4 additional pieces that were wide and long enough to hold cards. Starting with the the top card holder I folded over the top edge and sewed the hem to make it nice and neat, then I attached it to the longer rectangle at the bottom only. I then moved onto the next card holder piece, until I got all the way to the bottom. At that point I had the rectangle with the individual pockets attached seen in the top left picture. To attach it to the clutch I folded over the sides and sewed nice hems on all of the sides. I then pinned it to the clutch and sewed it down on the top, right, and bottom seams, leaving the left open to serve as another money/coupon pocket.


Using my button hole foot I sewed the button hole on the envelope portion of the clutch, and then attached the button on the outside bottom section. After folding it up and ironing all of the seams flat I now have a finished product! I was challenged a few times when making this just trying to piece to cover over all construction and to make sure I was sewing everything together correctly. Sewing patterns has definitely helped in my understanding of construction and much more confident to draft my own things. I'm planning on making another clutch, a zip-up version, but it's still in the works. Hope you all enjoyed this!

2 comments:

  1. I like the clutch Aimee. It looks really cute for running errands.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That fabric looks like a couch

    ReplyDelete