...ruffle clutch {tutorial}...

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Wanna make something totally darling, super-easy & inexpensive and perfect for all of your mommy-friends for Mother's Day?

How 'bout this?

This little beauty is big enough to carry wipes & diapers, sunscreen & bugspray, or a lunch...and small enough to use as a makeup bag or to tuck under your arm for a night out...

Wanna give it a try?
Here we go...

I made this clutch using scraps from a left-over canvas dropcloth & a vintage pillowcase that I got from an estate sale for .25 cents... just use whatever you have lying around...the only thing I had to purchase was hook-and-loop (aka Velcro) tape, and that was just .99 cents from JoAnn.

**Remember: all seam allowances are 1/2"**

Here are the items you'll need:

*2 different fabrics (one for the lining and one for the outside)
*Hook-and-Loop tape (sewable...I don't recommend self-adhesive...trying to sew through that stuff is like trying to swim in molasses...nope, I've never tried swimming in molasses, but I presume it would be difficult, and I don't think the park district would appreciate me re-filling their pools with molasses...anyway, the self-adhesive hook-and-loop tape just gets your needle all gummy and dull)...
*Straight edge
*Rotary cutter or scissors
*Sewing gauge or ruler
*Pins & a sewing machine (or needle & thread)

Yep, that's it...

My finished clutch was 12"x8"...so I cut my pieces as follows:

*For the lining: 2 pieces of lining fabric, each 13"x9"
*For the outside: 2 pieces of outside fabric, each 13"x9"
*For the ruffles: 3 pieces of lining fabric (or a 3rd fabric, however you want to do it), each 26"x2"
*Velcro: 1 complete piece (both the hooks & loops), approximately 14" long

Step 1:

Attach the hook-and-loop tape to the RIGHT side of the lining fabric about an 1" down from the top of the fabric and overlapping each side of the fabric slightly. Here my fabric is really thin, and the tape is really thick...make sure that you have pinned the tape correctly so that when the fabric is straight so is the tape...

Do this on both of the lining pieces (the hooks on 1 pieces, the loops on the other). Be careful to make sure that you have placed the tape in the same place on both lining pieces so that when the tape pieces are stuck together your lining pieces match up...

Step 2:

Sew your tape pieces to your lining pieces. Make sure to keep both the tape & the fabric straight as you sew...and sew close to edges of the tape.

Step 3:


Create and attach your ruffles using the method shown here...

How to make & attach your ruffles...

(Scroll down to Step 10 on that tutorial)

You can choose to add your ruffles anywhere you would like...I like mine sort of bunched up toward the lower-middle of my clutch...remember to make sure to leave enough room at the bottom for your 1/2 seam...

Step 4:

Once your ruffles and tape have been sewn on, make sure to iron your 4 pieces...you don't have to iron down the ruffles, just make sure to iron around them...

Step 5:

Now, place the lining pieces right sides together & pin (you can cut off the excess hook-and-loop tape now...). And place the outside pieces right sides together and pin.

...make sure your ruffle ends are lying flat on the edges of your outside fabric...you don't want them all bunched up and yucky when you sew the two pieces together...

Step 6:

Now take your OUTSIDE piece and sew completely around the sides and bottom of the piece. Make sure to leave the top open.

When you are done with that, take your LINING piece and sew down both sides and across the bottom as before...but here leave a 4"-5" opening in the bottom of the piece. DO NOT sew the bottom of the lining piece straight across...sew down one side and over a couple of inches...then move your fabric 4"-5" and sew the rest of the bottom and up the other side.

You may notice that I chose to use my serger to sew my sides shut...this is definitely not necessary, I just used mine to save a little time. A regular machine or hand-stitching is all you need...

Step 7:

Turn your OUTSIDE piece inside-out so that the ruffles are showing...it should look like this...push the corners out so they are nice and square...(don't look too closely at the photo, I think I could have done a little better job on mine...)

Step 8:

Your lining piece should still be inside out...(you've got it right if the hook-and-loop tape is stuck together on the inside of the little pouch)...

Take your OUTSIDE piece and slip it inside your LINING piece...

Step 9:

Line up your side seams & pin them together...(I like to make sure my seams are both lying the same way, but that's just personal preference...just try to be consistent)...

Then line up your top edges and pin together all the way around...

Step 10:

Sew all the way around the top...starting at one seam and working your way around...use a 1/2" seam.

Step 11:

Once you have your top sewn together, take your lining piece and slowly start taking it off the outside piece through the opening you left at the bottom...do this slowly and carefully, making sure you don't pull out any of your stitches...

It should look like this when you have it all done...

...you should be able to see both the hook-and-loop tape on the lining piece and the ruffles on the outside piece...

Step 12:

Now you should iron your two sides again...but this time when you are ironing your lining piece, make sure to tuck in your unsewn seam at the bottom so that it matches up with the sewn part...in other words, you want it to look like it's sewn all the way across...

Step 13:

Pin the unsewn area of the lining and run it through your sewing machine...keeping your stitch as close the edge of the fabric as you can...

Step 14:

Almost done...

Now take your lining and push it down into your outside pieces...you will see that your little clutch is coming together...

See how the top edges are messy and not too pretty? We could leave it like that, but we're not gonna...messy doesn't work...

Step 15:

Gently push, pull and work on your top edge until you have the seam opened as much as it will go...you don't want to have your lining pulled tight and your outside slack. You can even separate the lining & the outside and tug on them (slightly!!!) to see where the seam is, then hold that in place. Iron the outside & the lining across the top edge (again making sure that you are as close to the seam as possible)...this will give you a nice crisp edge, more like the one below...

Step 16:

Once you have that top edge ironed to your liking, run the top edge through your machine and top-stitch all the way around the opening, about 1/8" from the edge. This top-stitching will give your clutch a more finished look...

Guess what??? You're done!!!

It may seem like a lot of steps, but truly, once you get it down you can whip these things out super-quickly. Try using different fabric combinations, with or without ruffles and other embellishments...you can also quickly and easily change fabric sizes to create smaller or larger clutches...just make sure to add 1" to both the length & width of what you'd like your finished measurements to be.

Now get to work! Mother's Day is only a few weeks away!
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