Bag #46: Sequin Clutch

  

I saw this sequin fabric in the remnant bin at my local fabric store and snapped it up, but I wasn’t sure what to do with it.  A simple zip pouch would look great and I still might do that, but I wanted more of a challenge, so I opted for this faux suede and sequin clutch with a cotton lining.  It has an internal zip pocket, but no strap.  If you wanted a strap, you could easily add tabs with D rings to either side of the flap just above where it joins the main body of the bag.  A gold chain would look great.

The sequins were attached to a net fabric which was quite see-through and flimsy, so I used a piece of plain cotton fabric behind the sequins.

I did some research on the internet about using sequin fabric and read lots of cautionary tales.  I followed the general advice and used a leather needle and wore protective glasses in case the sequins caused the needle to break (it didn’t) and cut the fabric with an old pair of scissors to avoid damaging my good ones.  The sequins made a terrible mess – I think I will be finding bits of sequin in the carpet for months to come.  

The most you need is an 11”/28 cm strip or fat quarter (if you use non-directional fabric) of any of the fabrics - faux suede, lining, foam and 6”/15 cm of the sequin fabric.

I used a firm iron-on interfacing to stabilise the lining/internal pocket, bag foam for the main body of the bag and the flap and a thin wadding for the sides to prevent too much bulk.

The finished size is approximately 10½”/26.5 cm wide, 7”/18 cm high and 1½/ 4 cm deep

Skill level: Intermediate – due to the thickness of the foam, this takes a lot of manipulation to sew through all the layers.  Sequin fabric can be tricky, so some experience with a range of fabrics would be useful.

I used my normal needle and stitch length (2.5) when sewing the lining, but I used a leather needle and increased the stitch length when sewing the outer bag to 4 when sewing the seams and 5 when top stitching.  I tried to use ¼”/6 mm seams for the outer bag although sometimes they were a little wider due to the thickness of the foam. However, I recommend wider seams to ensure that all the fabrics are sewn through – I’m just so used to using narrow seams that I do it without thinking.  I made sure that I used slighter wider seams for the lining.

I have included metric and imperial measurements but they are not exactly interchangeable, so you should stick to either one or the other.

Skills used in this project:

• Working with sequin fabric

Step 1: Cutting out

Cut out the following:

11” x 14”/ 28 cm x 35.5 cm Bag body (cut 1 faux suede, 1 foam, 1 lining, 1 interfacing)

6” x 2”/ 15 cm x 5 cm Bag sides (cut 2 faux suede, 2 wadding, 2 lining, 2 interfacing) – shape them so that one of the short sides is curved – I drew round an old cotton reel

11” x 6”/28 cm x 15 cm Flap (cut 1 sequin fabric, 1 foam, 1 lining, 1 interfacing)

9” x 6”/23 cm x 15 cm Internal pocket (cut 2 lining, 2 interfacing)

9” zip/ 23 cm (I used an N3 zip from a continuous roll, but a 8”/20 cm zip would be sufficient)

2 magnetic clasps 

Step 2: Making the internal zip pocket

Attach interfacing to wrong side of all lining and pocket pieces.

Pin one pocket piece to one of the bag linings, right sides together, with the long side of the pocket placed centrally along the top edge of the lining.  

Draw a ½” x 7”/12 mm x 18 cm rectangle along the centre of the interfacing which is attached to one of the pocket pieces.  Sew around this rectangle through all the layers that you have just pinned together.  

Cut a slit in this rectangle (as shown in the photo) making sure not to cut the stitches. 

Push the pocket through this ‘letterbox’ shape in the lining so that it sits flat and press. You will now have a neat opening to attach the zip.

Pin the zip to the pocket so that the right side shows through the aperture in the bag lining.  Sew all round.

Pin the remaining pocket piece to this one, right sides together and sew around the sides and bottom, keeping the bag lining out of the way as you do not want to sew through this. 

Sew along the top of the pocket and the bag lining to hold the pocket firmly in place.

Step 3: Making the lining

With right sides together, sew the lining body to one of the lining sides starting at the front (furthest away from the pocket).  You may have up to ½”/12 mm of the lining body left over once you have sewn it to the side. Don’t worry about this because measurements vary depending on the size of the curves you created in the side. You will trim away any excess once you have made the lining.

Do the same for the other lining side, again starting at the front.

Trim away any excess back fabric, as mentioned above.

Step 4: Making the outer bag

Attach the foam to the faux suede body and the wadding to the faux suede sides. I used a spray on fabric adhesive but they could just be pinned.

With right sides together, join the sides to the body as you did for the lining, starting at what will be the bag front and trimming away any excess fabric on the back.

Trim the foam back as close to the stitch line as you can.

Step 5: Making the flap

Attach the foam to the wrong side of the black cotton flap fabric and place the sequin fabric onto the black with the sequin side facing out.

Attach the interfacing to the wrong side of the flap lining.

With right sides together, join the lining to the sequin flap by sewing around the 2 short sides and one of the long sides. 

Trim the foam back as close to the stitch line as you can.

Turn right sides out.

Step 6: Attaching the magnetic fasteners

The thinner side of the magnetic fastener needs to be attached to the lining of the flap. I placed them about 1”/2.5 cm from the seams on each corner.  I used a small off cut of bag foam on the wrong side of the lining to give it extra stability.   Make 2 holes in the lining and foam, push the ‘legs’ through from the right side of the lining, through the foam and the washer and open them outwards to secure.

Pin the flap to the back of the bag along the top with right sides together (see step 7 below).

  Fold the flap towards the front to work out where the magnetic clasps will go so that they meet.  Attach the thicker side of the fastener to the right side of the bag front.  There is no need to add extra foam because the faux suede already has foam attached to it.

Step 7: Attaching the flap

Sew the flap to the back of the bag with right sides together, through all layers of the flap.

Step 8: Assembling the bag

The lining needs to have the wrong side facing out and the faux suede bag needs to have its right side facing out. 

Place the faux suede bag inside the lining bag, matching the tops of the bags. 

The flap needs to be folded down between the outer bag and lining so that the join with the outer bag is visible.

Sew all round leaving a gap of about 5”/12.5 cm for turning.

Turn right side out and top stitch all round the top seam where you joined the bag and lining, closing the gap when you reach it.

(I would usually top stitch around the flap but I tried it and it looked horrible, so I unpicked the stitches.)

Step 9: Adding sequins

The sequins break around the seam line and you may end up with bald patches.  Apparently this is normal when sewing with sequin fabric.  One corner of my front flap was a bit bald and I might add some extra sequins there.  If it bothers you, take a few sequins from any leftover fabric and sew them on to fill in any gaps.

 

Congratulations!  You now have a fancy evening bag, but where are you going to go to show it off?

In this project I learnt:

• The sequin fabric was easy to work with.  I used a leather needle which could withstand hitting the sequins, but they were so small that the needle just pushed them out of the way.  Perhaps if they were larger, I would have had problems.  Most people use this fabric for clothing and have to remove the sequins from the seams, but this wasn’t necessary for bag making.  The biggest problem was the mess they made.  Wherever I went, I left a trail of gold!   The only problem I experienced was when top stitching where the flap joined the bag in step 8.  The needle kept hitting sequins and stopping but no breakage and I adjusted the fabric slightly and carried on.

• My main difficulty was the thickness of the bag foam at the seams but I went really slowly and, although my sewing machine struggled, it got there in the end.

• I’ll definitely use sequin fabric again as it adds a touch of glamour to a bag, especially at this time of year. Now I just need to find somewhere glamorous to go!