Anyway so on the November/December class schedule, one of the classes is to make a clutch using Simplicity Pattern 2166 view D. The Education Direction wanted me to make a sample clutch and snowman blanket up so I did. This is my review of the Clutch Pattern.
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| Finished Clutch. It's actually a slate blue. The photo grays it out. |
Simplicity Pattern 2166 View D
Overall it's an easy pattern, pretty straight forward. After making this one there many many things that I would do different to make it cuter and nicer. I'll point those out as I go along in GREEN. and little tips and tricks of mine in purple. The bag came out WAY bigger than any clutch should ever be. Mine is smaller than what the pattern says at 7.5" high by 11" long and I could fit a note book in there. If I make it again I would shrink the pattern down by about 75%
Time to complete from cutting pattern to final seam: approx 2 hours.
Time it took to figure out trims: about an hour (what can I say I can't make a decision)
Time staring at the pattern trying to figure out how to make it easier: approx 2 hours
Cost to make: $10 not including materials I already had at home
Materials
- Materials per the envelope:
- Bag (i.e. Clutch)
- 5/8 yard 45" or 60" fabric
- 1 yard Heavy Weight Fusible Interfacing
- Lining:
- 5/8 yard 45" or 60" wide fabric
- 1 3/8 yard 20" to 25" light weight interfacing
- Notions:
- Ribbon 3/8 yard of 3.25" and 2.25" wide ribbon
- Magnetic snap
- Thread
- Materials that I used.
- Bag
- 5/8 yard polyester taffeta
- 1 yard of Ultra Weight fusible interfacing (not a good idea... I'll get into that below)
- Lining:
- 1 yard of satin remnant I found for 50% off, have some left, so didn't use full amount
- don't know how much interfacing. I have a giant wad of 60" wide that I got for $1 a yard in downtown LA a few years ago.
- Notions:
- 3/8 yard of Project Runway Sequins Trim
- 1 magnetic snap
- thread
- Tools
- Topaz 30 sewing machine
- Brother 1034D Serger (Started on there b/c my machine was getting serviced)
- Chalk pen/Air soluble pen
- Exact-o knife
- Pinking shears
- Seam ripper (I made a few mistakes)
- Cutting mat
- Spray adhesive
- Straight pins
- fabric glue
- pen/pencil/marker
- Things that I should have used to make my life easier:
Let the construction begin....
The Pattern:
- It was easy enough to figure out my piece and to cut out the fabric. I use spray adhesive to put my pattern pieces down for a number of reason, but on satin fabrics, esp, the spray adhesive is great b/c you don't get pulls in your fabric from the pin holes from tacking down the pattern.- Transfer all pattern marks onto fabric. Normally I'm not one to do this, but for this project it helped so much to take this time because you have to align all of the interfacing, pocket folds and clasps.
- I cut the pattern out per the direction but I did a few things different.
- I cut the Ultra Weight Interface 5/8 inch small, which is basically the seam line that is outline on the pattern. This made it easier to "wrap" the fabric around the interfacing when it came time for assembly and removed the bulk of the interfacing from the seams.
I also cut about 1.5 inches off the top part of the interfacing for the flap, because since the interfacing that I choose was so stiff it would not lie nicely if there was interfacing all the way to the edge. Also, I only cut out 1 Interface for the flap of the bag, b/c I felt that 2 layers would be too rigid and too hard to flip inside out. I was right...
- Next time I would cut out and apply light weight interfacing to the top/front flap. It would make adding the ribbon easier. Otherwise you may get the ripple pattern like I did. If you like the ripple pattern than add about an extra inch to the bottom of the front flap so that you have enough fabric for a good seam allowance when you sew both sides together.
Pre-Assembly:
- Apply Fray check to one side of the Lining and the top of both pieces of the flap and to the bottom of one of the pieces of the flap. These areas will fray and become a pain in the tail
- Apply all of the interfacing per the manufactures directions. Usually use iron on cotton setting with damp towel applied to interfacing size for 15-20 seconds until glue melts. Then use dry iron to remove excess moisture. (Simplicity Steps 1, 6, and 25)
If I were to make this next time I would try to find Heavy weight interfacing for the bag b/c it will be easier to sew in the long run. The Ultra weight is nice b/c it give the bag some shape, but a pain to work with and I'll point that out as I go along. If you want a more rigid bag, than cut the ultra heavy interfacing into a rectangle so that it is not on the sides of the bag.
- Apply the snap to the dot per manufactures directions.(Simplicity Steps 2 and 28)
This is a great video that I found for the magnetic snaps (EverythingMary.com) on how to put them onto your bag. I also added a drop of glue over the cuts that you make in the fabric b/c I know that satin type fabric are known to pull and make runs, so a little drop of glue takes care of that.
Assembly:
I started out on my serger b/c my Topaz was in the shop getting serviced. It wasn't bad to sew on the serger until it came time to have to sew the flap onto the bag. So I had to wait to get my Topaz back.
Anyway....
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| Inside of bag |
Assembly is pretty straight forward...so you think. Just follow the directions per Simplicity for the first few steps.
1. Sew the side seams of the bag, then make the box seam along the bottom. (Simplicity Steps 3, 4, and 5)
2. Then sew the pocket onto the lining, then sew the lining the same way you did the bag. (Simplicity Steps 7,8,9)
Since I forgot to sew the pocket into the lining and since I didn't have a straight stitch machine I did it by hand. The down side was that it took forever (not counted in my time it took), on the plus side I was able to hide all of my hand stitches. The pocket in the back is split, but you don't see the seam on the outside.
The Simplicity directions then say to attach the lining to the bag, turn inside out and hand stitch closed. Then make the flap.
****This is where I would deviate if I were to make the bag again.****
Based on the Simplicity directions when you attach the flap to the bag you will get two seams showing on the inside of the bag so I would. (see black thread in picture). So to avoid that this is what I would do
1. Sew the trim onto the top flap (Simplicity step 26/27)
(see another section below about that one)
2. Sew the top/front flat to the bottom/back flap (right sides together) per directions (Simplicity step 28)
3. Flip inside right side out (Simplicity step 29)
4. Attach to bag per Simplicity Steps 39 and 40
5. Attach lining to bag per Simplicity Steps 9 and 10. You'll have to do some major crumpling of the bag and front flap to get it all to fit but it will be worth it not to have those pesky lines around the inside of your bag.
(this is why you want to fray check your lining edge. My lining un-raveled about 1/4")
(this is why you want to fray check your lining edge. My lining un-raveled about 1/4")
6. Whip or ladder stitch the seam closed per Simplicity Steps 10
At this point you should be done. YOU DID IT!!! YAY!!!!!!
.... but don't celebrate too soon.
I found that my lining kept popping out so I ran a straight stitch around the edge about 1/8" down from the top to hold it in place.
Now your DONE. YAY!!!!
****So a side note on the front trim.*****
I came across a happy accident. I had to tack down the trim that I bought and didn't want to just use a small zig zag to hold it on. The edge of the trim was pretty blah. So I looked at the decorative stitches built into my machine and found a cute crows feet so I decided to use that. Well since I didn't stabilize my fabric and it's just cheap polyester it bunched and got all nasty. I was going to rip it out but didn't feel like it so I just did the other side. Well it make this super cute ruching on both sides!!!! Unfortunately, you can't see it that well any more b/c I really had to stretch my top layer to meet the seam allowances, but if I made this bag again I'd do it the same way but leave about 2 inches of extra fabric on the bottom so that I could have the ruching on the front.
and that is all it took... to make a satin clutch!!!
You can also find a truncated review here.
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