Clutch Bag

More Sew Hip Issue 21


In a fit of enthusiasm, I've done a second make from October's Sew Hip. This is the Hold-me-tight clutch by Christine Down.

 I have to say that when I was preparing for this project, I was a bit perturbed by the materials list.It suggested you needed 1x1.5m of fabric for the exterior and 0.5x1.5m for the lining. I cut out the main template for the bag, waved it near my fabric stash and then ascertained that I could easily manage with a half meter for the outer and a fat quarter for the lining.


For the exterior, I used some Flower Fairies fabric I've had for ages. I found a complementary lilac floral fat quarter for the lining. The decorative ribbon for the front and for attaching the metal ring is from the fab Blooming Felt. You will note how the ribbon attached the ring is in fact upside down, but at least I didn't sew it the wrong way out.


The bag is a classic lined, zipped pouch and, although I've done several before, my limited spacial skills make it a challenge. I had particular difficulty with the instruction, "Flip the two exterior panels and zip over, so that the wrong side of the exterior fabric is uppermost. Repeat all the above with the lining fabric, placing it wrong sides together with the exterior fabric." The problem was that"all of the above" was with the fabric and the zip a different way up. Anyway, I managed it, although my zip ended up a bit mismatched in terms of where it finished. I concealed my teensy error by hand sewing some of the fabric over the excess zip.

I thought it was quite funny that the project said, "Try to find a coloured zip that matches your fabric - it's little details like that which made your projects look professional!" I'm not sure that my matching navy blue zip is going to make up for the wonky lines of stitches across it but I can hope...
 The strap piece was quite thick to sew for my lightweight machine and I caught my finger trying to shove it under the foot. Unfortunately, the metal clips I had weren't wide enough for the fabric, so I attached the strap directly to the metal ring - it's a key ring anyway so I can still detach the strap if I need to.


Making the rosette brooch was fun and fairly easy. I topped it off with a pretty button that I had bought on spec only the day before, thereby justifying my policy of adding to my substantial stock of  buttons on a regular basis.


To finish, I added a glass bead as a zipper pull - a touch I always feel makes up for any other defects in the zip installation.


I've had the bag out for a test drive and nothing fell out, so I declare the project a success...


Melx