Wednesday’s Project: A Zippered Clutch
I’ve been wanting a basic zippered pouch, like a flat clutch or wallet. Since I couldn’t find anything that suited my purpose, I decided to make one. This type of pattern was surprisingly hard to find. Most had extra pockets or details I didn’t want to bother with.
Eventually, I discovered Noodlehead’s Gathered Clutch Tutorial. It’s a simple, flat pouch with a zippered top. The front is gathered—a pretty detail that I liked, so I decided to give it a try. Best of all, it’s free!
Materials
- 1/4 yd Quilting Cotton, Lavender Swirl
- 1/4 yd Quilting Cotton, Lavender Bubbles
- 1/4 yd Lining Fabric, Lavender
- 9” Zipper, Lavender
I chose two lavender quilting cottons, one with silver stippling and the other with lavender bubbles. I also bought a high-quality polyester lining fabric to use, as well as a lavender zipper.
Materials for Zippered Clutch
Construction
It looked simple enough, and didn’t use much fabric, so I decided against making a mockup. I cut the pieces according to the given measurements and started sewing.
First, I made a long, narrow band, which covers the gathering stitches on the front panel. It’s a contrasting fabric—in my case, lavender bubbles. Next, I gathered the front panel. I chose to run the gathering stitches by hand, since I’ve had bad experiences with trying to machine gather.
After gathering the panel to the right size, I topstitched the band over the gathered rows. The directions tell you to press a piece of fusible interfacing to the back side of the gathered panel, but I prefer to work with sew-in interfacing, so that’s what I used. It might not secure the gathers as well, but I think it did a good enough job.
Gathered Front
Since I didn’t need them, I skipped the divider pocket and credit card holders. I cut the zipper to size, then sewed on the tabs that cover the top and bottom ends of the zipper. These gave it a surprisingly finished look.
Zipper with Covered Ends
The next step was to sandwich the zipper between the front and the front lining and stitch alongside the zipper’s teeth on one side. I repeated this step for the back, then opened it flat and stitched all the way around the edges, leaving a small gap in the lining with which to flip it right-side out.
I did encounter some problems with the edges of my fabric not lining up. One side was considerably shorter than the other. I trimmed it to size, but I’m left wondering whether I did something wrong or if the pattern was flawed.
After flipping the clutch right-side out and poking out the corners, I slipstitched the gap in the lining closed. And that was it! The zipper tilts a little toward the front, but I’m not sure if it’s intentional or something I did wrong.
Finished Clutch, Front & Back
Conclusion
It took me perhaps two hours from start to finish, and if I made it again, it would probably only take an hour, since I know what I’m doing now. In any case, it’s the perfect size and exactly what I needed. I could also see making one in satin or taffeta, for an evening look. It would be quite elegant.
Open Clutch
