Purse Week Guest Tutorial: I Am Momma – Hear Me Roar

Today we are lucky people.  Cheri from I Am Momma – Hear Me Roar is here with an adorable clutch.  Her blog is so great—it seems her posts always interest me, and she has such a variety of topics as well.  From hair week, sewing, home decorating tips, etc., her blog is a definite favorite of mine.

I’ve met Cheri a couple times now.  She’s great.  I can’t say enough good things about her.  She is one of the most creative people I know.  And so kind—and if you read her blog you’ll find she has a great sense of humor as well. 

I’m trying out her upcycled hats this week. 

And her craft room, playroom, and family room?  All are even better in real life.  I  feel pretty lucky to even know that:). 

 

Let’s see what she has for us today, shall we?________________________________________________________________________

Hello Lemon Squeezy Ladies (and gentlemen).  I’m Cheri from I Am Momma – Hear Me Roar and I’m very happy to be here today.  I love Christie and her blog.  She is thoughtful, sincere, dedicated, and talented – which is probably why you are here.  Me too.

Today I’m going to show you how to make this.  I’m calling it my Dainty Leather Clutch.  It’s actually pretty easy to make, so let’s get to it.

I will explain the process, but I won’t give exact measurements because it all depends on how large you want your clutch to be.  I started with a large rectangle of leather.  I cut it to be the width I wanted the clutch to be.

Okay, let’s take a time out here.  You might be thinking…where do I even get leather Cheri?  I got mine at Tandy Leather Factory.  When I went there I picked the man’s brain (probably annoyed him as well) and learned a lot about leather.  You don’t buy it by the yard.  You buy pieces of it and the price varies a lot.  I bought a huge piece of this light blue leather.  It was on clearance for $30, but I have used it for about ten different projects already.  You can buy harder or softer leather.  Mine is kind of hard, but it’s quite thin.

I took my rectangle and folded up the bottom so that it was about the size I wanted the clutch to be.  I wanted my clutch to be angled in rather than just a plain rectangle, so I started from the bottom corner and cut in about an inch as I came up to the top.  The white line represents where the leather was before and the dotted line is where I cut it.  Don’t cut the flap at the same angle.  Just cut it at a ninety degree angle or wait to cut it.

Next I wanted the flap to be circular so I found a bowl the right size, traced the line onto the leather, and cut it.

Next I made the scalloped edge.  I took another piece of leather and cut that same half circle shape.  Then I created one scallop the size I wanted it to be and used it to trace over and over until I had the whole piece drawn out.  I cut the edging out.  This is the most time consuming part.

I wanted the flap to be lined purely for cuteness.  I didn’t line the whole pouch.  I used the flap itself to trace the exact line onto the fabric.  I left a little extra fabric at the bottom (along the straight edge) so I could fold it over and have a clean edge.  I didn’t worry about the rounded part since I knew the scalloped edging would cover it.

I sewed up the sides of the clutch and then I sewed on the flap lining.

I sewed the edging over the top of the lining.

I sewed these two lines carefully so they would be parallel.  I chose red thread as a fun contrast.  I also chose to use the gray side of the leather for the outside scallop, to give the clutch a little more interest.

Lastly, I sewed on strips of velcro vertically so that the clutch will close well when it’s really packed and when it’s pretty empty.

I added a large red button to cover the seams from the velcro on the front flap and because I thought it was adorable.  I love big buttons.

A couple quick notes for you if you want to make this.  Don’t be afraid of leather.  It’s actually really fun to work with.  Your sewing machine will sew through it.  Technically you should buy a leather needle for your machine, which is a bit thicker.  You can use your rotary cutter to cut the leather, but it will obviously cause your blade to dull more quickly.  If you’re really up for a project you can also check out my leather laced purse tutorial.

Thanks for having me, Christie.  All of you are welcome at my place anytime.  Have a fantastic day!

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I love it.  I love the colors, the scalloped edge, the red houndstooth inside, the huge red button—it’s all great!  And doesn’t seem very time consuming! 

Thanks so much, Cheri!