A Casual Clutch
Hello! Here’s a small project made on a whim as a last minute gift. As thrown-together as it sounds, this clutch has turned out to be one of my favorite recent makes. The gift recipient has been using it a ton and it was a great learning experience for me sewing leather.
I found an image of this clutch pattern on Pinterest and immediatly knew I liked the simplistic design. I followed the Pinterest link to an incomplete free tutorial and then followed that to a confusing YouTube tutorial. I gleaned what I could from the jumbled instructions and the printable pattern piece and then filled in the holes with what I already know about making zipper pouches. Because my leather scrap was so small, I had to size down the pattern so I would have enough leather. This left me will a clutch the size of a large wallet; it’s big enough for phone, keys, and a little makeup - perfect for an evening excursion.
To add a little more weight to the pouch I interfaced the cotton exterior with SF101. Because my leather was so thick, I just topstiched it to the cotton exterior instead of sewing the exterior and the leather right-sides-together. This being my first project using leather in its construction, I was a little concerned about how it would go. It turns out, my deep fear of sewing with old cow skin was totally unnecessary! I used a non-stick leather presser foot and a leather needle and had no problems. The only difficult part was the boxed corner which had three layers of leather to sew through. For those sections I just hand cranked the machine.
The black and white print was leftover from some potholders I made a few years ago and the leather scrap was free from a friend who got it free from a saddle-maker. The interior is a light lavender chambray fabric that I think may be Everyday Chambray from Fableism. I also added a pocket to the interior because… well why not?
I gave this clutch as a gift but it still is one of my favorite pouches I’ve made - I think I need to make one for myself soon!
Project Overview: Upscale Western Clutch
Time: 4.5 hours
Pattern: sewingtimes.net/clutch-bag-and-wallet-free-patterns/
Materials: Scrap leather; cotton, chambray, and zipper from my stash
