Handheld Friends, Part 2 {Clutch & Purse Tutorials}

More clutches and purses?! Yes, please!!
Here are a few more (with their tutorials) that I have made as gifts for family. 

My grandmother and Larry's mom both complimented one of my first clutches that I had made for myself a while ago...Though she was one of my first clutches, I still use her frequently--the button and contrasting inner lining are my favorite features. Here she is!

My grandmother requested one in a black and white and red color palette for when she goes square dancing. I had just the perfect fabric for this! 

I also made a red/black/white bracelet and stuck it inside of the purse for her. :)

I unfortunately wasn't able to get a photo of her actual clutch--but this one was made from the same fabric that I had used for her's--hers was a little larger, had a red stripe on the front, a longer wrist strap and pocket on the inside.

 Larry's mother also complimented the clutch, but since she's the use-one-purse-until-it-falls-apart kind of lady, I was nervous she would love the fact that I made it for her but maybe not put it to use. Nonetheless I had to make her one! She loves the color purple. I found an amazing floral print that complimented a gorgeous purple sparkle fabric that I knew I wanted to use for her.



Inside has a pocket for her ID, cards and cash



Larry's mom and her clutch! She uses it frequently when visiting the Hard Rock Casino, movies and mall! YAY!

I used the good old gathered cluch tutorial from Anna (with a few variations) to create all of the clutches above.

I also made a purse for my sister. She had an old Care Bear sheet set that she had been wanting a purse made out of by my mom for many many years now! My mom passed on the task to me, so I used this past Christmas as an opportunity to make her one. I used the infamous Made-by-Rae Buttercup Bag pattern and tutorial for the first time and LOVED it! I've been wanting to make this purse for quite some time--I as pleased, it is fairly simple and turned out super adorable! I didn't use a heaver fabric for the lining, so I added a fusible interfacing to help give it some shape though next time I think I will try and use a heavier fabric when I'm not subjected to matching a Care Bear pattern. :) Also, instead of a magnetic closure, I used a fabric-button that I made out of the matching Care Bear fabric.

 

 

Tia with her new purse--she was very excited to see her Care Bear purse finally come to life!

Glad to share a few more of my purses and clutches--more to come sooner or later! :)

Handheld Friends, Part 1 {Clutch Tutorials}

One of my all-time favorite things to sew are clutches, purses and wallets. They allow so much creativity and provide practicality. They make awesome accessories to an outfit as well as awesome gifts. You can NEVER have enough purses!! :)

First up...meet the Pleated Pouch!! 

 I got the pattern and directions for this cute guy from Skip To My Lou!

 

 For the bride-to-be...I chose to use a "Bride" printed white and pink bandana 

with some coordinating polka-dot pink fabric!

I added some stranded crystals for a zipper pull and it turned out adorable!

Next up is a mini wristlet...I used Anna's Lil Cutie Pouches Tutorial for the basic pattern and layout. I'm not going to lie--this is one of my FAVORITE "pouch" tutorials. It is a great "layout" in creating any style of clutch. I just added a strap and pocket,  a ruffle/ribbon accent to the front, a cute ziper pull and enlarged the dimensions.

 It is so stinkin cute I can hardly stand it--the fabric is adorable. I made this for Leslie at work who bakes yummy creations on the side from home. She wanted something to take on her deliveries to hold her cash, phone and some business cards. 

 

 

Stay tuned for other clutch/wristlet/purse/wallet tutorials that I may come across!!

Go Handmade {Mini Dress and Clutch Tutorial}

For Larry's birthday I opted to make a dress and accessories instead of buying them! I had fabric leftover that I hadn't used and originally purchased with the intention of making an elastic waistband dress, but wanted to make something a little more different and fun this time around.

I started off by making the skirt...an almost trapezoidal shape using my measurements to create a somewhat fitted, simple skirt. Not too tight, but not too loose. Instead of using an elastic band, I followed the steps in this baby onesie tutorial to attach the skirt to a stretchy tank top... Blue Cricket Design Onsie Dress . Simple idea all around--stretch the tank to accommodate the width of your skirt while you are stitching them together. After you're done stitching, the skirt will gather accordingly!

To give my dress character and more fun, I added layered ruffles! The two things I would have changed if doing this again is that I would have added the top ruffle BEFORE attaching the tank to the skirt (so the seem would be hidden) and I would have allowed more fabric! I somewhat underestimated the amount  of fabric I would need to create the amount of fullness that I had originally wanted. (But I couldn't help this since this was fabric I had already purchased prior to this project! 1.5 yards...)

I cut the three layers for the ruffles in various lengths and made a small hem at the top and bottom of each. I then made a gathering stitch at the top and scrunched them until they were able to be pinned flat around the skirt at the placement that I wanted it. I used my own discretion as to how wide I made the ruffles and where I placed them on my skirt. The thinner you make your ruffles and the more layers you add, the fluffier your skirt will be! When attaching the ruffles, I made sure the bottom of the one overlapped the top zig zag stitch of the one below it to make sure you wouldn't see the seam. My third and final ruffle hung below the skirt hem so that you wouldn't see the skirt underneath. For the final look, I added a belt at my waist to disguise my first ruffles seam--oops!! I think I would have worn this with a belt either way though!

I also made myself a clutch and ring. I used a basic clutch tutorial that I've come to love & use A LOT from Anna's Noodlehead blog. You can create many variations using this simple clutch "blueprint." I made the front out of the same material as my skirt...adding a yellow trim and black lace for detail. The entire back and center band of the clutch is a shiny black fabric PERFECT for accents and making purses. I also added a strap and had a matching yellow lining with a money/ID pocket on the inside. 

The matching ring is SO simple to make! I saw this clever idea on Smashed Peas & Carrots & fell in love!

All in all, Larry & I LOVED my outfit for his birthday--I felt comfortable and confident in what I had made. Making my own outfit (while challenging) was very worth it! Not settling for something in a store was awesome. 

In the end, all I can say is...

Go handmade :)