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Hello girls! Today I will be showing you how to make a purse. Specifically, a gorgeous cross body clutch. The Night Out Clutch is a versatile DIY purse perfect for dinners, cocktail parties, or summer evenings out with friends! Keep the strap attached and sling it over your shoulder, or free-hand it all evening, carrying it by your side as an accessory.

Skill level: Intermediate

Materials:

• 1/4 yard of main fabric (I used a fat quarter of quilting cotton, you can use home decor fabric too.)
• 1 yard of accent fabric
• 1/4 yard of lining
• 1/2 yard of soft fusible interfacing
• 1/4 yard of By Annie’s Soft and Stable  (This can help take your bag to really a pro level, adds a perfect shape to the bag).
• 1″ 2 Metal Swivel clips
• 1″ Metal D rings
• Snaps
• 12″ zipper
• Free pattern

Cutting:

Cut out the following pieces of fabrics and label them accordingly with a fabric pen or post- it note to avoid confusion.

• A – 12″x9″ Cut two from the main fabric and two from the lining for the main body
• B – 6.5″x 4.5″ Cut two from the accent fabric for the rectangular pocket
• C – 40″x3″ Cut one from the accent fabric for the strap
• D – 3″x3″ Cut two from the accent fabric for the strap extenders
• E  – Cut 2 from the template for the flap
• F – Cut 2 from the template for the accent
• G – 10″x 3″Cut two from the accent fabric for the zipper case
• H – 1″x 2″  for zipper tabs from accent fabric

From the soft fusible interfacing cut for each of the A, B, C and E.

From the By Annie’s soft and stable cut two pieces for the main fabric.

Instructions:

Fuse all the interfacing to their respective pieces.

Part 1: How to Make the Accent Piece

1. Take your F pieces and place them together so that the right sides are facing each other and sew all around leaving a small gap.

2. Turn the fabric right side out from this gap and press. Top stitch all along the edge.

3. Place it onto your F piece on the main fabric and pin. With a contrasting thread sew along the edges as shown by the next picture.

Add the Pocket

4. To make the pocket, take your B and E pieces and repeat steps 1 to 2.

5. Add snaps. (Not sure how to add snaps to fabric? You can read this tutorial on my blog on how to add magnetic snaps).

6. Pin the pocket and sew from three sides leaving the top part un-stitched because that’s what will make the pocket. Doh! 😉

7. Pin the flap on top, adjusting it in a perfect position, it’ll be better to close the snaps and pin. Sew along the top of the flap.

Part 2: How to Make the Strap

8. Take your strap piece, and fold it in half, and press.

9. Open it full again, and fold the outer edges inwards to the crease and press as shown in the picture below.

10. Fold from the crease and press again. Do an edge stitch on both sides.

11. Next, inset the end of the strap into the swivel clip. Pin and sew a rectangle as shown by the dotted box.

Part 3: How to Add the Zipper

12. Prepare your zipper through the tutorial here.

13. Take the G piece, fold it ½” towards the centre and press. Next fold the pressed edges towards the centre and press again to get an approximately 1” width piece. Also fold it inside from the top around 1/4″. This step is somewhat similar to how we did the strap.

14. Place the finished G piece under the zipper as denoted by the “zipper casing in progress” in the picture below.

15. Fold over and sew as shown by the dotted lines.

16. Place the zipper onto your lining approximately 1” from the top and sew along the dotted line as shown. Repeat for the other side.

Part 4: How to Make the Body

17. Take the two main fabric pieces, fold them 1/2″ from the top and press as shown.

18. Place the two pieces right sides together with the Soft and Stable at the wrong side of each piece so that the main fabric is sandwiched between the Soft and Stable. Pin and sew from three sides leaving the top open. Clip the corners after you are done.

19. Repeat steps 16 and 17 with the lining.

Part 5: How to Sew the Extenders

20. Take the extenders fold and sew them the same way you did for the strap.

21. Insert the D rings, fold the extender into half and pin as shown.

And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for…How to assemble the bag!

1. Turn the main body right side out.

2. Place the lining body inside the main body so that the wrong sides are facing each other. Pin all around. Also pin your extenders inside the bag on two opposite sides. They should go in between the lining and main fabric.

Note: Feel free to refer to the finished bag to get the idea. In my bag I added both the rings at the back but you can add one in front and one at the back. Make sure if the front one is at the right hand of the bag the back should be on the left side of the bag to balance the bag in position.

3. Sew along the top edge.

4. Add the strap using the swivel clips, and you’re READY TO HIT THE TOWN! My friends fell head over heels in love with my bag and couldn’t believe when I told them it’s a DIY project!

That’s all for today. Do drop by to the blog for more DIY bag tutorials. I share a lot of free patterns, so don’t forget to subscribe to the newsletter!

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Javeriya Siddiqui

Blogger at Sew Some Stuff

Javeriya is a student blogger who loves to sew and decorate. Pink and glitter are her favorite things! Her blog is called sewsomestuff.com. Visit her for super cute and easy sewing tutorials!

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