Gift presents for women: gathered clutch tutorial

Gift presents for women: gathered clutch tutorial
Sewing patterns

Materials needed:

• 1/4 yard each of three coordinating fabrics (you'll definitely have scraps leftover)


• 8" zipper (you can always purchase a longer zipper and shorten it, just follow the directions on the package


• scraps of medium weight fusible interfacing

Cutting the pieces:
For the main exterior, cut two pieces, one 5.5" tall by 9" wide, and one 5.5" tall by 13" wide (this will be the gathered front)
Pieces of medium weight fusible interfacing for exterior pieces of clutch: (2) 5.5" tall by 9" wide
For the front band, cut one piece 4" tall by 9" wide.
For the lining, cut two pieces 5.5" tall by 9" wide
For the zipper end covers: two pieces 1.5" tall by 2.5" wide.
Optional Parts:
For the divider pocket, cut one piece 8" tall by 9" wide (apply interfacing to half, you'll need at 4" x 9" piece)
For the card holders, cut one piece 7" tall by 9" wide (apply interfacing to half, you'll need at 3.5" x 9" piece)

Seriously, the most time consuming part for me is always picking out my fabrics and cutting them, the rest goes together pretty easy, so let's go!

Take the front band piece and fold it in half the long way (right sides together) and sew together using a 1/2" seam allowance. 

Turn tube right side out and press with seam in the middle.  Set aside.

Grab the 13" wide main exterior piece.  Sew two lines of gathering stitches down the middle, about 1" apart. 

Pull the top threads to gather, pull until the length is 9" long.  Press the gathers in place. 

Take the front band and pin it in the middle of the exterior piece you just finished. 

Top stitch along each side of the band.  Take the 5.5" tall by 9" interfacing piece and iron it to the WRONG side of the gathered piece.  This makes all the gathering and stitching stay in place nicely.  Set aside.

Make the divider pocket: 

Fuse interfacing to half of the piece. 

Fold fabric in half with WRONG sides together, press.  Topstitch along folded edge and then add another line of topstiching about 1/4" below the first line of topstitching.  Set aside.

Make the card holders:

Fuse interfacing to half of the piece.  Fold fabric in half with WRONG sides together, press.

Topstitch along folded edge and then add another line of topstiching about 1/8" below the first line of topstitching. 

Take one piece of the lining fabric and line up the card holder with raw edges together, one on top of the other baste along side and bottom edged of card holder (the plaid fabric). 

Grab your credit card or driver's license and mark with a pin how far you want your card to stick up from the slot.  Sew a line across the lining/card holder piece where you marked with the pin.  Sew one line of stitching down the center of the card holder. 

Take your card again and mark with a pin where the edge of your card is (you can leave a little wiggle room, but it's nice to keep it pretty snug to hold your cards in place).  Sew a line for the side of the card, repeat for other side.  Now you should have two card holders!  Set aside.

Making the end tabs for the zipper:

Fold the piece of fabric in half width wise, turn down each raw edge to the center crease and press (the pic above doesn't show it pressed in far enough).  Repeat for other end tab. 

Take your zipper and sandwich the fabric around the zipper, just poking over the little metal bits.

Topstitch a line straight across the zipper with a very small seam allowance being careful not to hit those metal parts!  Repeat for other end.  Trim the fabric tabs to the width of the zipper.  IMPORTANT!  The length of the zipper with the tabs on should measure about 8.5" end to end. 

Baste the card holders to one piece of lining and the divider pocket to the other piece of  lining, aligning the raw edges at the bottom.

Almost done! 

Assembling the clutch:

Place your gathered exterior piece RIGHT side up (whoops!, had it wrong in the pic, don't worry, just get out your seam ripper and start again).  Put the zipper teeth side down with the pull tab to the LEFT.  Then put the lining piece WRONG side up.  Pin in place. 

Using your zipper foot sew along the edge of this zipper sandwich.  Flip pieces so the WRONG sides are together.  Please note that in a few of these shots the zipper with end tabs sewn on is longer than the clutch exteriors and linings, it was the first one I made and have since made adjustments to the measurements, all updates are inluded here in the tutorial.

Grab the other exterior piece, place RIGHT side up.  Put the zipper teeth side down with the pull tab on the RIGHT this time. Place the remaining lining piece WRONG side up on top of the zipper.  Pin in place, sew.  Flip pieces so the WRONG side are facing eachother.  Press! 

Put your regular sewing foot back on and sew a line of topstitching on either side of the zipper.

Now open your zipper about halfway, don't forget this!  I actually forgot to do this on all three clutches, don't worry, you can still wiggle the zipper open if you carefully pull at it through the fabric.

Place the exterior pieces RIGHT sides together and the lining pieces RIGHT sides together.  Push the zipper end tabs in towards the lining, hopefully this side view pic makes sense. 

Sew all around the edge using a 1/4" seam allowance, leaving a 3-4" opening in the lining for turning.  Make sure you try to sew right next to the zipper end tabs and not actually throught them, click here for a visual.  Clip corners.  It also helps to sew with a slightly larger seam allowance when you go to sew around the lining pieces.

Turn the clutch right side out.  Push corners out.  Stitch the opening in the lining closed using a small seam allowance.  Tuck the lining into the clutch.  Press again and your DONE!!!   Phew.  It does seam like a lengthy process, but it really does sew up pretty quickly.  For the biggest time saver, just skip the divider pocket and card holders! Or add a handle!  The one below I just put in a mini pocket!

**Update**  If you don't add the divider or card pockets, I would recommend adding a layer of fusible fleece or even canvas as interfacing, it will make the clutch more sturdy.

Terms of use: For personal use only.  Thank you for respecting that. 

Have fun with it and give that mom in your life a big hug!

Have a great Mother's Day!

** UPDATE**  Interior shots

interior card holders (2 - side by side)

Source: noodle-head.com

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Recycling ideas: crafts bags, Sundress upcycle to shoulder bag

 

Sundress upcycle to shoulder bag

A couple of years ago, a friend brought back these beautiful dresses from Bali for my daughters. They did wear them a couple of times, but then told me they felt too scratchy and uncomfy, and so they've been hanging in their wardrobe ever since, unused and unloved! Which is a shame because the fabric is beautiful!  So I decided that we'd make use of them in a different way! Time for some upcycling!  And these bags are the result!

They were pretty easy to make - here's how!

First cut the skirt from the bodice of the dress like this:

---

These dresses had a small slit up the side, so I stitched that closed..

Then stitched the bottom edges of the dress together (right sides together) to form the main part of the bag:

Next, with the bag still inside out, put your hand in and flatten out the corner to make a point like this:

And put two pins in a line around 4cm in from the point, then stitch along this line

Now cut the two top parts of the dress to use for the straps, like this:

Before joining them together, turn the raw cut edges of both the bag and the pieces for the straps once and stitch.

Then pin the pieces for the straps to the side seams of the bag - right sides together. And stitch in place. Then turn the top rim of the bag over once more and stitch - this should hide any remaining raw edges

Now you need to join the straps together. Cut to a little longer than the desired length for your strap (try it out for size on your shoulder here).

Then fold the ends together so the raw edges are hidden, and stitch.

These dresses had a handy little tube of ribbon on the straps that I then stitched over the seam to hide it.

For a little extra decoration, I took the elasticated part from the back of the bodice of the dress, and an offcut from the strap..

....rolled the elasticated part up and tied it..., then handstitched to the side of the bag!

And here's the finished bag:

 

I hope you liked this upcycling project.  I have sooo many clothes that I can't bear to give away or throw out.  So I've decided to turn to upcycling!  There are so many great ideas out there for upcycling clothes, that I thought I would try to create a place to bring them all together.  To have a list of ideas and tutorials  and the links to them all in one place would be awesome.  So I've created a page here at Creating my way to Success for just that! I'll link up any clothes upcycling projects I've done, and add any future ones.

If you have a clothes upcycling project you would like to share, then please come and link up, and feel free to take a button for your site and spread the word. Hopefully we can build up a great resource for everyone to be able to use - and get upcycling those clothes!

Source: jembellish.blogspot.com

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Crafts for summer: solar dress free pattern for kids

During a recent little heat wave, the ease and functionality of the basic sundress - no ruffles, no layers, no sleeves - become rather urgent. Believe it or not, but there are very few 'plain' dresses around here. Smootch's taste tends to run towards drag queen and I try stay out of wardrobe decisions. The high temperature, though, wore Smootch down and a dress without any extras to trap heat and a wide enough base to get a little breeze going was requested.
Crafts for summer: solar dress free pattern for kids
kids craft ideas
Happy to oblige, little lady.

This dress is a simple as I could design, while keeping my mind on wear-ability beyond these few weeks of summer weather. I like a loosely fitting bodice area, with room to grow, and adjustable straps that allow for shirts underneath without getting all bunchy and awkward are nice too. A plain Jane front allows for pockets and embellishments to be added later to make something old seem new. A classic A-line shape works great as a pinafore over fall and winter tees and sweaters.

I'm feelin' pretty good about this one.

Which is why I thought I would make it available as a free pattern for y'all.

The Solar Dress comes in sizes 2/3, 4/5, and 6/7.  The sizes are approximated to the US standard sizes (such as you would buy in ready to wear).  To give you some idea, Smootch is a petite almost six year old, wears a US 5, and is wearing the Solar Dress size 4/5.  Of course, the dress is quite forgiving size-wise, being of simple design, so do not get too hung up on the exactness of it all.  (The designer certainly didn't :D)

To assemble the dress, in addition to light or medium weight fabric (try cotton or linen) and coordinating thread, you will also need some 1/4" elastic orclear elastic. 

Now before you go clicking the link to get the pattern pieces, I'm going to warn you that the file is rather large. Sorry. I got carried away when drawing out the pattern and coloured the whole thing in.

We got playing.

(Print in 'fast' and 'grayscale' when printing if you don't want to blow out your ink cartridge. If you guys have too many problems with the file, let me know and I will draw up a basic version, sans all the colours.)

Click here to download Solar Dress ePattern.

Print the Solar Dress pattern at a 1:1 scale (or 'no scaling') for correct size.

Assembling the Pattern Puzzle

The first thing to do is assemble the ePattern.

Cut out each piece from the file and assemble the pieces as roughly shown in the illustration on the right.

Align each piece flush as indicated by the lines and colours (it'll all look right as you put it together) and tape together.

The pocket piece is intended to be traced onto another piece of paper, using the drawn pocket as a guide for shape and placement.  You could actually cut it straight out the the assembled pattern, however, if you do not mind a big pocket shaped hole in the middle.

Cutting the fabric

To begin, determine your desired size and either trace onto a separate paper or cut along the appropriate line as indicated on the pattern piece.

To cut out the front of the dress, place the full pattern along fabric folded grain-wise, folded edge of fabric aligned with long side of pattern marked 'FOLD'.  Cut out piece.  (PATTERN INCLUDES SEAM ALLOWANCE - DO NOT ADD SEAM ALLOWANCE WHEN CUTTING OUT FRONT.)

To cut out the back of the dress, fold the paper pattern piece on the dark line running from arm base across chest.  The back shape is cut from this dark line and below (the top inch or two is eliminated). Folding saves your pattern, paper, and time, not having to cut out an entire new piece for the back along.  With the pattern folded, align in the same manner on folded fabric as you did on the front.  As you cut ADD ONE INCH OF ADDITIONAL MATERIAL ON THE TOP OF THE DRESS.  This is adding some fabric to put in the elastic back, not accounted for in the pattern.

Additional pieces of fabric needed are bias cut strips for the straps and ties.  If you would like to use store bought bias tape, that is excellent, use a double folded version, or you can make your own by cutting stripes of fabric 1 1/2" wide at a 45 degree angle from the fabric grain.  Use an iron to press a double fold into the strips and conceal the raw edges.  Do not sew the edges closed just yet.

The two straps made of bias tape need to be about 25" to 35" long, depending on your desire for short or long straps and size of dress.  For bottom loops to tie straps to, cut two additional pieces of double fold bias tape each about 2" long.

Cut out four pieces of pocket.

Assembling the dress

Start by finishing the top edge of the dress front with a double folded hem.

With your bias tape straps, fold one end of each strap to conceal raw edges. Open up bias tape and align the unfinished end with the arm curve on the front piece. With the tape still open, machine baste the raw edge of the bias tape to the edge of the arm curve (see thisbias tape discussion for more information).

Fold closed the tape over the edge of the arm curve. Stitch close to the edge of the tape along the entire length, finishing the arm curve and closing the strap. Repeat for other strap.

(Okay, confession: I'm not actually using bias tape above because of the limitations of the fabric panel I chose. It looks not so smooth - your bias tape will look nicer, trust me.)

Sew a pocket by placing two pocket pieces right sides together and stitching together the curved sides, leaving the straight top open. Turn the pocket right side out, fold the raw edges in on the straight side, and press flat. Stitch the straight side closed. Stitch on the pocket, in the position indicated on the pattern paper, by stitching the curved sides to the dress close to the edge. Be sure to secure the top edges with a few extra stitches for extra strength where it is likely to be pulled on often. Repeat for other pocket.

The top of the back is finished with a piece of thin elastic sewn in. Cut a length of elastic 8" to 10" long (depending on size used). Whether using clear elastic or regular 1/4" elastic, stretch it out along the length of the top raw edge on the back and machine baste the elastic directly to the dress, stretching while sewing.

Fold down the elasticized edge into a double fold and stitched closed, again stretching while sewing (this can be tricky, I admit. Pins help :)

For the back loops, sew closed the 2" long strips of bias tape. Fold loops in half and stitch to elasticized hem, each approximately 3" from the side edge. Or whatever seems like a good distance.

With all straps and loops in place, and the top edges of the front and back pieces finished, you can now stitch the front to the back, right sides together, along the entire length of both sides (stitch from the top down) using a 3/8" seam allowance. I like to stitch the seam flat at the top edge under the arm to avoid irritating sticky-outty seams.

Finish the bottom hem and you've also finished the dress.  To do up the straps, run the ends of the straps through the loops and tie together in the middle. 

Source: indietutes.blogspot.com

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