This weeks Crafty Bloggers Club post is from Vicky, you can find more of her makes on Instagram @sewlittlesparrow and on her blog sewlittlesparrow.com

Hello and happy 2019 to you all!  I hope Santa bought you lots of new sewing goodies.  

For this months blog post I’ve ventured into something I’ve been wanting to make for ages and that's bags.  When the Crafty Sew and So girls mentioned a new product they had in I jumped at it and I knew exactly what I was going to make, particularly with a little event called the Dressmakers Ball coming up in a few months time.

 So I’ve made an Ida Clutch bag in gold faux leather!!!!  And I am so happy with it and have to say why have I not made this bag before!

The faux leather comes in a roll approx 135cm long by 50cm wide so plenty for bags and accessories.  There were a number of colours including a mustard yellow, burgundy, black and gold (think there may have also been silver and possibly another colour too) but I went straight for gold.  I know it says it on the front of the packet but it is super soft and so tactile!!! 

As coincidence would have it, the day I popped into Leicester to collect the fabric the girls had just taken arrival of a batch of Kylie and the Machine labels, so it must have been fate that this was destined to be an Ida Clutch.  

 For those that don’t know, Kylie and the Machine is a super stylish Australian lady who has designed an amazing range of labels and she designed the Ida Clutch.  What’s even better is the pattern is a free download!!!  I also bought a pack of the “One of a Kind” labels which are the ones I actually ended up using for the bag.  For the lining there was a perfect match in a Dashwood cotton with little gold spots.

I’ve never sewn with anything like this so wasn’t sure if I needed to use a special needle/machine foot but as it feels pretty much like a normal fabric I decided to go ahead and use a standard needle and foot (although a Walking Foot would be ideal if tackling a larger make), and to be fair it sewed up great. 

I really took my time though as if you did make a mistake you would be able to see the tiny holes if you had to unpick it.  So I’d probably recommend doing a practise run in a normal fabric if you’ve not made the pattern before.

Instead of using pins I used these little clips which I picked up a pack of 10 in the shop and they were perfect (This isn’t the Ida Clutch in this picture, I tell you about this one in a minute).

 So about the Ida Clutch.  It’s a perfect little handbag that’s big enough to pop your phone, wallet and your lipstick in. It folds over and is secured with magnetic fasteners. There’s some lovely touches like the top stitched corners and you can use different types/coloured zips.  I chose a metal zip to match the gold.  I decided to make mine in all gold fabric but I’ve seen some great versions where people have colour blocked different fabrics.  I also added a little tab to mine so I could clip on a handle to hold the bag round my wrist.

 So overall all a great make and fabric, so much so I actually bought another pack of the faux leather in burgundy and I’ve made another Ida Clutch for my Mother in Law (that’s unless I decide to keep it for me!).  You could make all sorts of accessories with the faux leather, I have even contemplated if I could make a skirt out of it, or would that be too much?

 Here's a few pics of my finished gold clutch with the Kylie and the Machine “One of a Kind” label 

And the burgundy version. 

But that's not all.  After making the Ida Clutch there was plenty of fabric left over so I made a shoulder bag too.  This was a bit of a make it up as you go along bag but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out and it’s going to be perfect for my holiday in a few months.  

I sewed up a basic rectangle in the outer fabric and did the same for the lining.  I added a few different pockets to the lining before I attached both pieces.  

I then sat the lining inside the outer layer, wrong sides together and joined by topstitching the two  layers, while folding in a small seam on both layers to keep the edges neat.  I wanted the handles to be hard wearing so I used some leather off cuts I had.  I attached them to the inner layer first before sandwiching between the two layers.  

I also added two tabs/d-rings to each side so I can attach a shoulder strap.  I’ve just used the strap off of another bag for the timing being but will make some up in the brown leather when I have all the clips.  And of course finished off with a “One of a Kind” label.

Thanks for reading and I hope you go and check out this fantastic fabric, I really love it and hope you do too.

Vicky

--------------------

“Crafty Bloggers Club Contributors are given products and materials to test from Crafty Sew&So. We hope you enjoy their honest and impartial reviews of the products. All opinions are their own.”