Crochet Clutch

Hi everyone, today I would like to share with you a project I embarked on so I could save on outfit accessories for two upcoming weddings I am attending this month. I needed a clutch bag that would go with a dress in a light pinkish flowery print. The only clutch bag I have is a stark - albeit very cute - black affair, which was a definite no-no with the aforementioned dress. Soooo, that meant I had to make one, right?

It took me a while and a couple of attempts to figure out what the bag would look like. One of those attempts is this little number, which I blogged about a couple of weeks ago. It ended up looking a little more casual than I liked, and so I moved on - although I fully intend to finish it at some point. Then I found the stitch I wanted to use for my bag: this one! Isn't it absolutely gorgeous?

There were a few practical issues with that stitch: one of them was how to work it in the round when the original stitch is worked in back and forth rows. It's not that bad, actually, you just join each row to its beginning and turn your work, so you alternatively work on the outside and on the inside of the bag. I figured that out in my second attempt, which unfortunately I had to frog, as the bag was too small and looked slightly awkward. Here's a quick detail pic for you guys:

For the third attempt, I decided to ditch the brown and go for a pink ombre effect, to be completed with a cream colour at the top, like so:

Note the silver chain, which was simply added by working a couple of chain stitches over it at either end of the bag. The pic above shows the bag unlined. Ideally, I would have loved to line it with some kind of cream satin-like fabric. But my aim was to make this bag using only bits and pieces from my stash (yes, I did have a silver chain in my stash). So off I went, with one piece of felt, one of interfacing and one of cotton fabric. The process was similar to the lining of this granny square bag I made last year, except it was much easier, because, a) this clutch bag doesn't have any depth, and b) I have been to sewing classes lately, which has given me loads of confidence (more on this in a subsequent post).

So after I had to talk sense into my sewing machine who wasn't so happy about all those thick layers I was feeding into it, I managed to complete my lining:

One thing I'll remember for next time is to make the top edges of the fabric slightly wider than the felt and interfacing when measuring out, as it was a bit of a challenge to fold the fabric around the other components.

Then came the hand sewing of the snap fasteners (and some unintentional fabric ripping, as well, which called for an emergency repair...) after which I moved on to attaching the lining onto the inside of the crochet clutch, following the method I learned from this amazing tutorial,

Aaaaand... Ta-daaaah!

So, what do you think? Personally, I love it, and I have to say it's probably one of my favourite makes yet. Of course, much of it is due to the beauty of the original stitch, which I simply replicated from MyPicot. Just look how delicate!

So, bring on the weddings, I am ready! ;)

Thanks for reading, everyone, see you soon! x