In partnership with Brother Australia
To celebrate the famous Spring Racing Carnival in Melbourne, Brother Australia asked me to create a tutorial that was racing related. Once I came across Melody Miller’s Mustang fabric from Cotton + Steel, I knew exactly what I would make as it is the perfect fabric for a horse racing related project!
If you are attending the races or a spring party, a clutch is essential to carry around all your necessities. This one is super simple, and the two toned element means you can work with a colour scheme to match your outfit. Think the traditional black & white of Derby Day or the vibrant colours of the Melbourne Cup!
To make this clutch, you need:
- two fat quarters of exterior fabric (I’ve used Mustang by Cotton +Steel and a mustard/metallic Lizzy House Pearl Bracelet print.)
- fabric for lining
- 10″ metal zip with decorative pull (you can find them via sites like Etsy or other specialist haberdashers)
- Fusible fleece (I used Legacy 808 Craft Fuse aka Pellon 808)
- Lightweight interfacing for lining (I used Legacy SF101 aka Pellon SF101)
- Wonder clips or pins
Cutting:
Exterior A (mustang print) 2 – 11.5″ x  5″
Exterior B (pearl bracelet) 2 – 11.5″ x 3.5″
Lining fabric: 2 – 11.5″ x 7.5″
Light weight interfacing: 2 – 11.5″ x 7.5″
Fusible fleece: 2 – 11.5″ x 7.5″
With a 1/4″ seam, stitch the the two exterior fabrics together to form two exterior panels. Press seam open.
With a hot dry iron, fuse the fleece to the exterior panels. Then fuse the lightweight interfacing to the lining pieces.
Add a line of stitching to the exterior panel just above the seam to give the clutch a finished look.
Take the zipper and fold each end under and secure with a few stitches (see below picture, or for more detail, take a look at this tutorial). This gives the finished pouch a very neat look.
Lay the zipper on top of the exterior piece with right sides together.
Lay the lining on top with the lining and exterior being right sides together. Secure with wonder clips or pins.
Stitch down with your zipper foot.
Repeat process for the other panel and lining pieces.
Press gently then topstitch either side of the zipper.
Open the zipper. (Super important! If you don’t, you won’t be able to turn the pouch right way out once it’s stitched up!)
Place the two lining pieces right sides together and the two exterior pieces right sides together. Secure with wonder clips.
Stitch all the way around leaving a 3 to 4 inch opening in the lining.
Clip corners and pull the exterior through the hole in the lining to turn the right way out.
Press lining hole and stitch shut using a coordinating thread. Push lining into pouch.
Give your clutch a final press across the exterior pieces.
Enjoy your new clutch purse!
You can see this project along with loads of great other tutorials on the Brother Projects page.
For more of my DIY projects, check out my tutorials page and sign up for my email newsletters where I’ll send you exclusive info on all the latest sewing projects and news from the blog!
Love this – thanks, Ros.
Thanks Jan!
Thank you for this tutorial. I particularly like the tip about folding back the zip ends.
You are welcome Anna! Thanks for reading 🙂 Ever since I learned about this zipper technique I have used it every time.
What size is the zipper? 9″?
This one is a 10″ zipper. I will edit the post to say that 🙂
Thank you for the wonderful tutorial!
You are very welcome! x
Thank you for this tutorial. I have now made 4!
1 for me, the rest for friends. Such a perfect gift idea.
🙂