Bag #49: Envelope Clutch

I’m going through a clutch bag phase at the moment and I couldn’t wait to make an envelope clutch this week.  There are simple ways of making one and I’m going to do that next week.  This week I felt like more of a challenge, so I decided to try to make more of a pointy flap. If there’s a technical term for this, I don’t know it!  I fiddled around with the measurements for hours until I was happy with the shape, but was disappointed that I made lots of mistakes while making the bag. 

I bought the Vlieseline Hot Spots at one of the shows this year but hadn’t tried them out.  I used the large spots which give a mosaic appearance whereas the small spots (which I haven’t tried yet) apparently give a denser colour.  I used them with transfoil and they were easy to use.  The fact that I made a bit of a mess of it is all down to my lack of experience at using them (see comments at the end).  I got these from the helpful people at Art Van Go who sell a lot of specialist products that you don’t see in run of the mill haberdashery stores.

The faux suede came from the remnant bin of a home furnishing store. I think this bag would look good with a couple of bright contrasting fabrics for the sides of the envelope, but I’ve only just thought of that.  I used quilt batting to create a soft bag and a medium weight interfacing combined with a quilting cotton for the lining.  I didn’t add any pockets as I was short of time this week, but a zip or phone pocket would be easy to add.

You would need a fat quarter of each of the fabrics.

The finished size is 11”/28 cm wide, 8”/20 cm high and about ½”/ 12 mm deep.

Skill level: Intermediate.  The bag is easy to make but you would need to create your pattern first.  A simpler version of this bag will be on the blog next week.

I used a slightly longer stitch than usual because the fabric was thicker than I normally use (2.5) but increased it to 4 for top stitching around the opening.  I used ½”/12 mm seams for the outer bag and slighter wider seams for the lining.

Skills used in this project:

• Using Vlieseline hotspots
• Working with faux suede

Step 1: Cutting out

Cut out the following:

17” x 17”/43 cm x 43 cm Bag body (cut 1 outer, 1 wadding, 1 lining, 1 interfacing)

1 magnetic clasp

Vlieseline Hot Spots

Transfoil

Step 2: Creating the pointy flap

I wanted a narrow pointy flap, so I shortened and shaped 2 of the sides.  This is how you would do it:

• Draw a diagonal line through one of the corners - this will form the pointy end of the flap.

• Shorten the 2 adjoining sides to 15”/38 cm so they meet at the diagonal

• Mark a point half way along the 15”/38 cm sides and measure 1½”/4 cm in
• Join each end of the line to the 1½”/4 cm mark to create the shape

Trim all the fabric pieces so that they are this size/shape.

The corner between the two 15”/38 cm sides will be referred to as the ‘pointy’ corner from now on!

Step 3: Sewing the outer bag

Attach the wadding to the wrong side of the outer fabric (I sewed round the edges).

Take the corner opposite the pointy corner.  Fold one adjoining side in half, right sides together, so that 2 non-pointy corners meet.  Sew along this seam to create one of the bottom envelope seams. 

Join the other non-pointy corner in the same way.   

Step 4: Adding the embellishment

Draw a shape of your choosing onto the smooth side of the hot spots and cut it out.

Place the hot spots in position on your fabric with the sticky side against the right side of the fabric.  Press for 15-20 seconds on warm or hot iron.  Peel off when lukewarm.

Place the dull side of the foil onto the hotspots, cover with baking/greaseproof paper and press for 15-20 seconds on warm or hot iron.

I tried using a hot iron on a scrap of faux suede and it didn’t like it, but a warm iron was fine. I made sure that I used baking paper between the iron and the fabric to be on the safe side. 

Step 5: Sewing the lining

Attach the interfacing to the wrong side of the lining (mine was ironed on).

Join the non-pointy corners of the lining exactly as you did for the outer bag.

Step 6: Inserting the magnetic clasp

The thinner side of the magnetic fastener needs to be attached to the lining of the flap. I placed it centrally with the middle of the fastener about 1”/2.5 cm from the tip of the flap (however, if I was making the bag again, I would put it about 2”/5 cm from the tip for the reasons set out at the end of this post).  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.

Attach the thicker side of the fastener to the right side of the lower bag body.  I positioned mine about 2”/ 5 cm from the edge where the non-pointy corners meet (see photo).

Step 7: Assembling the bag

Place the lining inside the bag or vice versa (as long as the outer bag and lining are right sides together)

Sew all round leaving a gap for turning.

Trim the corners, clip around the area where the non-pointy ends meet and trim the wadding back to the stitch line.  This will all ensure that the join between the outer bag and lining sits flat.

Turn through.

Top stitch all round the flap opening, closing the turning gap as you go.

Hopefully you’ve made a better job of this than I did! The photos show how the bag should close if the magnetic clasp had been properly positioned.

In this project I learnt:

• The Vlieseline hot spots were quite easy to use.  The only bit that went wrong was when I pressed the foil onto the dots.  I place the whole sheet of foil over the bag, but some of the foil must have picked up adhesive from my practise attempt and bits of silver stuck to part of the flap.  The answer would be to cut out a bit of foil only slightly larger than the image, then the pre-used bits won’t touch the fabric. I’m not really into embellishments but I love this and it’s washable.  I can’t wait to try the small hot spots.

• I’ve worked with faux suede before and it’s relatively easy to use, although it frays quite badly. I used a needle for heavy woven fabrics and a slightly longer stitch length and my machine coped well.

• I didn’t position the magnetic clasps very well and as a result the flap didn’t close tightly enough.  When I took the photos, I unfastened the flap and pulled it down by an extra inch/ 2.5 cm to show how it should look.  This is a mistake I’ve made in the past and I’m disappointed that I’m still making it.  I even pinned the lining to the outer bag to see how it would fit together and still got it wrong!  Perhaps the answer it to make the bag, fix one part of the clasp but leave the other part until the last possible stage i.e. just before sewing up the gap in the lining.  If anyone has any tips on how I could improve on this, please let me know.

• The magnetic clasp on the flap was too close to the edge and as a result I was unable to top stitch the tip of the flap even using a zip foot.  Again, the problem is in the positioning of the clasp.  How annoying!