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  • Hi, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

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A DIY Experiment: Making A Folded Clutch

June 5, 2012

There are reasons I’ll continue to purchase my totes and handbags, even though this quick DIY clutch didn’t turn out so badly. I think my sewing machine hates me, or it hates the threads I choose, or it hates my fabrics, but it’s evident that I should stick to home improvement-related projects and leave the seamstress experts to the fancy purse-makin’ stuff. But if I can make something like this, you probably can too. And that’s why I’m sharing it.

Cute little floppy clutch. Make your own!

I’m not really one to make a lot of clothing items, but I did make an awful lot of Beanie Baby sleeping bags one year, so the sewing machine isn’t as a foreign tool as, say, the rototiller. It occurred to me one day while I was digging through my scrap fabrics that I could make a cute little carry all with what I had, and maybe, if I could be so lucky, for (basically) free! And so I tried.

I started by cutting a piece of blue flowery linen fabric sized approximately 14″x26″ from the bolt that I bought (for $1) from a recent yard sale. To add a little interest to the base of the bag, I decided to add little feet to the corners, a supplementing detail that involved trimming a full circle of faux-leather fabric that was leftover from my latest ottoman project (using a small plate as a template) and then cutting it into half-circles for each corner of the bag.

One 14x24 piece of fabric, and two half-circles of faux-leather.

When folded and sewn, the clutch would theoretically look like this:

One 14x24 piece of fabric, and two half-circles of faux-leather.

I sewed the faux-leather to the main piece of fabric first. They’re the clutch equivalent of elbow patches.

Pinning the bag "elbow patches" into place.

As you can kind of tell here, as I sewed it on slowly I tried to roll the unfinished edge under to make it appear a little more polished (even though the pleather fabric does not tend to fray). Had I not done that, the faux-leather underside may have shown a bit, so I think my efforts, albeit imperfect, were worthwhile.

Sewing the bag "elbow patches" into place.

The blue fabric was, on the other hand, starting to fray at the edges. Also, having white areas that I didn’t want to stain from the inside if my lip gloss started to melt, I decided to line the inside of the bag using a heavier white outdoor canvas that has a bit of stiffness to it. After the pleather patches were sewn in place, I lined what would be the inside of the bag with the white canvas and folded it cleanly so that I could sew up either side of the bag.

Using a heavier fabric to line the inside of the linen bag.

With both sides sewn up, I flipped the bag right side out. The patches aren’t perfectly symmetrical themselves, but they do align perfectly the way each wraps around to the back of the clutch. Handbag manufacturers, don’t worry, you’re not going out of business.

Flipped right side out. Phew, the patches align.

The zipper install went more easily than I expected. I chose a chunkier metal 14″ zipper from JoAnn’s for the job, in a muted beige color. It only cost me about $1.55, which was after I used one of my 50% off coupons. Anyone else ever feel wasteful using these coupons on what are possibly the least expensive items in the store?

Installed a metal zipper to the clutch.

The ends of the zipper were purposefully a little long, so I added little faux-leather tabs by sewing them to the overhanging ends. They started off pretty nice, but I trimmed them in to be closer to the seam, and now they’re imperfect. I’m OK with that. And I have trimmed that obnoxious stray string that’s popping northward since I took that photo.

Added imperfect little tabs to each end of the zipper.

The bag, although a little wrinkly from being sewn up and manhandled during its assembly, was pretty cute.

Finished DIY clutch.

And because it’s still pretty big (12″x12″), it can be folded over and carried too, just like all of those styles I covet on Pinterest.

Finished DIY fold-over clutch.

With a quick iron to get out the creases in the linen, it’s done! And offers enough room to store my wallet, phone, lipgloss, and anything else that I find myself needing on a casual day out.

Right, it does hold stuff.

Happy little clutch.

Cute little floppy clutch. Make your own!

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DIY

Emily
I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. I've been a freelancer writer for 10+ years and you can find my work on popular home and garden sites, like HGTV.com. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note.

4 Comments


Rachel
June 5, 2012 at 6:32 pm
Reply

Love it! Maybe next prom season / homecoming you should show everyone your DIY formal dress skills! :-)



    Emily
    June 5, 2012 at 7:40 pm

    Haha, fat chance. Anyone who can sew stretchy fabric in a straight line like a tube can achieve that dress. Thanks for taking me back to my DIY roots though.

Julie
June 30, 2012 at 12:52 am
Reply

Very cute. I love the fabric and the faux leather patches. What a great detail. Thanks for posting your purse I am going to try it.



    Emily
    June 30, 2012 at 9:05 am

    Glad you liked it, Julie!

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  • HI, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

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