Mara Creates: October 2015

I have made a few more of my Curvy Clutch Hack Pattern Clutches.
They make great Christmas Gifts, easy and quick to sew up, I like to do them in batches of two's.
I sewed these up for my Sister In Laws for Christmas, I hope they like them as much as I do, we give out presents at Thanksgiving time since that is when the family gets all together. I still have to mail mine cause we won't go to the States this year, so they need to go in the mail soon.

The top one has ruffled pockets on both sides.

Simple and beautiful!

I love the ruffle on this one, I only had a small piece it has little sailors, boats and anchors, so cute!

Where are you taking your pictures, Mara?

At an abandoned house that overlooks our town of Kalabaka, Greece.

And just down the street a little bit from our house (not shown in picture, but you can see the road I take to go to our house in the window frame).

You can also make a Curvy Clutch hack minus the ruffles, still bind the pocket piece, and also with out the hardware for the strap.

I sewed one of the pockets shut, so you can easily place your cell phone inside and it won't fall out while you are carrying your clutch.

The open side is next to the strap and the other side looks like a pocket, but I sewed it shut, didn't want to cover the cute girl riding her bicycle with the ruffle so that is why this one did not get ruffles.

I sent this one as a present to a friend who went the extra mile for me.
Will you be sewing up any Curvy Clutch Hack's for Christmas? Let me know if you do, would love to see them, tag #thecurvyclutchhack if you are on IG.

Linking to Ho Ho Ho and on We Sew over at Ella and Nesta's blog this month!

The Curvy Clutch is a Pink Door Fabrics Free Pattern, you can pick it up at their store, The Curvy Clutch Sewing Pattern.
Everyone loves making it on IG, there are so many inspirational photos, just check out the hashtag #TheCurvyClutch

I wanted to just add a small twist a cute ruffled pocket for the front, to quickly put your phone in and a wristlet handle.

So I bring you The Curvy Clutch Hack Tutorial :)

Read through the instructions first and be sure to grab the instructions for The Curvy Clutch from Pink Door fabrics as well as print the 2 pages with the pattern.

Cutting Instructions:

Main Fabric - (1) 10.5" x 6.5" (1) 10.5" x 5" for the ruffled pocket

Lining Fabric - (2) 10.5" x 6.5"

Ruffle Fabric and Binding - (3) 2 1/4" x 10"

White Fabric - (1) 10.5" x 6.5" goes behind the ruffled pocket (1) 10.5" x 5" the lining of the ruffled pocket (2) 2" x 9" the interior of the curved accent piece

(I used white fabric for the clutch pictured above, but use whatever you like)

Accent Panel - (2) 2 x 2" for the zipper tabs (2) 2" x 9" , cutting these and the 2 plain or white pieces above as the accent panel following the dark line on the bottom NOT the dash line from the pattern piece given in the Curvy Clutch pattern, page 8

Wristlet Strap - (1) 1 3/4" X 2 1/4" D-ring tab, (1) 1 3/4" X 10" (for a child) or 15" (for an adult)

Hardware: 1/2" D-ring and 1/2" Swivel Snap Hook , I get my hardware supplies from Emmaline Bags.

Interfacing (the pattern calls for 6 pieces of SF101, that's a lot for me, it is so hard to find here, so I have substituted it with Pellon TP971 Fusible Thermolam) (2) 10.5" x 6.5"

Fist Step: Sew the Accent Panels together, following the directions from the Curvy Clutch Pattern, Step #3, remember you have cut yours on the solid line and not the dash line

Ironing:

Iron the 2 Accent Panels you just sewed above.
Iron the Fusible fleece to the 2 fabric pieces that are 10.5" x 6.5" (one Main fabric and one White fabric)
Iron your zipper pull fabric and the 1 3/4" wristlet strap fabrics like she shows you in the Curvy Clutch Pattern Step #7
Iron the (3) 2 1/4" x 10" strips in half lengthwise, (making your pocket ruffle and binding)

Making the Wrist Strap:

In the Ironing Section Step #3 you ironed a 1 3/4" x 10" (or 15") piece into 4, now follow this easy tutorial on how to make your strap.

Triming and Cutting:

Trim the Fabrics you ironed above in step 2 using the Curvy Clutch Pattern Piece Main Panel, also trim your Two Lining Fabric cuts.
Cut (1) Ruffle Fabric that you ironed in step #4 above in half to make (2) 2 1/4" (but now ironed in half) x 5" pieces (this will be your ruffle pocket binding)
Place your 10.5" X 5" Main Fabric and White Fabric wrong sides together, Mark a line 3" from the top and 3" down, Cut a diagonal line.

Making the pocket is as easy as 1, 2, 3, 4!

Sewing it All together:

Let's make the ruffles first, set your sewing machine to the longest stitch and sew 1/8" away from the raw cut edge, on both ruffle pieces, make sure to leave long tails at the beginning and end of each piece. Then sew again 1/4" away from the raw edge, Pull the top thread to create your ruffle.
Reset your stitch to it's normal setting and sew a 1/8" seam at the top of your pocket pieces (one piece main fabric and one piece white fabric) wrong sides together. (this is to keep them from wiggling around while sewing on the ruffles and binding)
Sew the ruffle to the pocket opening raw edges together a tad less than a 1/4", leave some of the ruffle hanging off both ends so you can trim down and have them in the seam allowance.
Take your binding piece and using wonderclips align the raw edge with the raw edge of the ruffle you just sewed on, flip it over and on the back side you should see the stitching from when you sewed down your ruffle, now sew just outside of that line it should be 1/4" to 3/8"
Flip the binding over and to the back and sew down from the front just under the binding to catch the folded edge on the back side.
Now you have your ruffled pocket align the bottom raw edge of it to your 10.5" x 6.5" White Fabric and edge stitch 1/8" on the bottom.
Take one of your Curved Accent Panel Pieces and align it with the top of the Main Panel, be sure to cover the top of the ruffle pocket and follow the directions from the Curvy Clutch Pattern, Step #6,
Flip over your pocket piece and trim the ruffle and triangles to match the White Main Panel.
Do the same thing with the other Main Fabric Panel Piece and Curved Accent Panel, following the directions from the Curvy Clutch Pattern, Step #6 this is your back piece.
Attach your folded 1 3/4" D-ring tab to the the panel piece.
You already ironed your zipper tabs above in the ironing section step #3 now follow the directions in the Curvy Clutch Pattern Step #7 to attach them to your 7.5" trimmed zipper.
Follow the steps 8 through 14 of the Curvy Clutch Pattern add your wrist strap that you made above and TaDa you know have a Ruffled Curvy Clutch!