Hi everyone!

Happy Tuesday! We hope you are all having a lovely day. Unfortunately, we’ve been getting some pretty yucky and muggy weather here as of late. We were surprised with a heavy downfall this morning, and some hail (yes, hail!) in some parts of the city this weekend. Let’s hope June will bring some more sunshine!!

To brighten up a gloomy day, we are here with our weekly How To’s Day! And this is a fun one, with colors that will surely brighten up any rainy day. And that is just what we need! Today we are sharing our Foldover Wedding Clutch Tutorial, featuring our Neon & On by Jackie McFee collection. With Summer approaching, it also means that party and wedding season are here too! And we couldn’t be any more excited!! Gorgeous floral arrangements, stunning gowns, delicious food, and heartwarming nuptials…we LOVE it all!  Plus, who wouldn’t want a reason to wear a cocktail dress and pretty accessories? :)

Our foldover wedding clutch is the perfect compliment to an even more perfect day!! This beautiful clutch would be a wonderful gift to show your loving bridesmaids how much they mean to you, or an added accessory to hold all your wedding day essentials! It would be great for a night out with the girlfriends or as a makeup/essentials pouch too. We adore the pop of color with our Neon & On by Jackie McFee collection; plus the suede or leather section is such a stylish detail!

Click HERE to see the full, free tutorial for our Foldover Wedding Clutch!

Foldover Wedding Clutch Tutorial

Tools & Supplies

For version B:

– Enough leather or ultrasuade to make (2) 10-1/2” x 4“ rectangles (we upcycled a couple of thrift-store finds)

For versions A & B:

– Fat quarter of Neon & On quilting cotton (44” wide) from Camelot Fabrics in 4141003 #2
– Fat quarter of Neon & On quilting cotton (44” wide) from Camelot Fabrics in 4141002 #3
– Fat quarter of fusible interfacing (44” wide) from Camelot Fabrics in White
- (1) 8” closed end zipper
- Printer & tape
– Basic sewing supplies: Sewing machine with a zipper foot, Coordinating thread, Iron & pressing surface, Scissors & fabric shears, Measuring tape & straight edge, Fabric marker, and Straight pins

Notes
– Unless otherwise noted, sew all seams with a 1/2” seam allowance (included in templates).
– Please wash, dry & iron your quilting cotton before beginning.
– (Instructions for version B) are in parentheses throughout.

Working with Leather:

Pressing

– When pressing, always place a scrap of cotton between your iron and the leather’s surface, and test your iron settings on an extra bit of leather before pressing your project pieces.

Leather stretches

– When sewing leather to cotton, it’s best to have the cotton layer uppermost to prevent your machine’s foot from tugging on the leather and causing it to stretch. When sewing two layers of leather together, pull gently & consistently on the lower layer to match any expansion in the top layer. Both pieces should retract together once they are no longer under tension.

Leather doesn’t “heal” like cotton

– Any pinholes & needle punctures are permanent, so be careful. Pin within the seam allowance or forego pinning entirely and be as accurate as possible with your seams, so you won’t have to pick out any stitches.

Cutting

1. Print the Foldover Wedding Clutch template at 100% size.

2. Cut out your pattern pieces and trace them onto your cotton (and leather) as indicated on the templates. Cut out the Lining (& Base) pieces precisely, and cut loosely around the perimeters of the Shell pieces.

3. Fuse the Shell pieces by placing them Right Sides down on your ironing surface and covering them with your fusing, glue side down. Press well to bond the layers and cut out the Shell pieces along the traced lines.

4. Cut (2) 2” x 22” strips for the Ties. You can make the Ties from your Shell fabric or your Lining fabric, depending whether you’d like them to coordinate or contrast with the body of the clutch. This won’t affect your yardage requirements for either fabric.

Making the Ties

1. Fold & press the long edges of the Ties toward the middle of the strips, Wrong Sides together. Fold (1) short end inward by about 1/2” and trim the corners as shown.

2. Fold each Tie in half lengthwise & press, tucking the ends neatly into the fold.

3. Top-stitch across the folded end and down the long side as shown. Use a scant 1/8” seam allowance.

Assembly

(For Version B:
Sew the bottom edges of your Shell pieces to the top edges of your Base pieces, Right Sides together. Press the seams open, referring to the opening notes on Working with Leather.)

1. Mark the center of the top edge on (1) Shell piece, on the Right Side of the fabric. Baste the raw ends of the Ties to the Right Side of the Shell on either side of the center mark, with their seams toward the center as shown. Use a scant 1/4” seam allowance.

2. With your machine’s zipper foot installed on the right-hand side of the needle and the zipper open half way, sew the top edge of (1) Shell piece to the zipper tape as shown, Right Sides/Outsides together. The seam should be 1/8” – 1/4” from the zipper’s teeth.

Dealing with the toggle – When your seam reaches the zipper’s toggle, lift your machine’s foot, slide the toggle underneath (closing the zipper), lower the foot and continute sewing to the end of the seam.

Repeat with the second Shell piece.

3. Sew the top edge of each Lining piece to the zipper tape, with the Right Sides of the Lining against the Wrong Side/Inside of the zip. For best results, these seams should be a little farther from the zipper’s teeth than the Shell/zipper seams.

4. Fold each Lining piece back & away from the zipper and top-stitch a seam as shown – but don’t catch the Shell! This seam with keep the Lining neatly out of the way so it won’t get caught in the zipper.

5. Sew the (2) Shell layers, Right Sides together, along the slanted corners on either end of the zipper with a 1/2” seam. The top end of this seam should be snug against the zipper; you can double-chech its positioning by turning the corner Right Side out. If any part of the zipper’s tape is poking out, beyond the length of the teeth, then your seam needs to be nudged in tighter.

Repeat this step with the Lining.

6. With the zipper most of the way open, sew the Lining layers together around the remaining (3) sides but leave a 4” gap in the bottom edge.

7. Sew the Shell layers together around the remaining (3) sides.
(For version B: First sew the left- and right-hand sides of the clutch, beginning at the top and sewing toward the Base. Then sew across the bottom, maintaining a gentle tension on the leather as mentioned in the notes on Working with leather.)

8. Clip your corners & press your seams open.

9. Press the bottom corners of your Shell & Lining pieces as shown, taking care to line up the seams exactly. (Leather doesn’t hold a press, so skip this part for the Shell on Version B). Draw a line across each corner where it’s 2” wide and box the corners by sewing along these lines, backstitching at both ends of each seam. Cut off the corners, leaving a 1/2” allowance outside these seams. Clip into the corners & press the seams open.

10. Turn the clutch Right Side out through the gap in the Lining and topstitch the gap closed with an 1/8” seam.

11. Tuck the boxed corners of the Lining snugly into the corners of the Shell, fill the clutch with a few nuptial necessities – lipstick, hankies, flask* – and you’re good to go!

We really hope you have enjoyed this week’s How To’s Day post! We would love to know your thoughts on our Foldover Wedding Clutch; if you decide to make this project or any of our free projects we would love to see. You can send all your pictures to info@camelotfabrics.com or tag us using the hashtag #camelotfabrics. Have a wonderful day!

Happy Sewing!

 *bring flask at your own risk! ;)