Naughty Notions Challenge: Finished Clutch!

After struggling with lack of 'crafting mojo', fighting several times with a sewing machine, and lots of cursing (silently at least!) I finally got my clutch bag finished for the Naughty Notions Challenge! Phew!

Zip-a-dee Do-dah...

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Since the whole point of this challenge was to use notions, the look of my clutch bag was easily decided for me: zips! Zips everywhere!

Even after sewing this, I still have a while bunch of zips (though my stash has gone down noticeably now!)

I had so many because my Nanny got them from a friend who used to sew.

The zips obviously came from a thrifty person since most of them were used :) It's a feature I love, because it adds personality! I did have to spend ages picking little bits of cotton from them all, but that's fine, they were free!

This bag cost nothing to make. Everything was to hand, either given to me or already in my stash! Here's my middle sister modelling it:

This was my first ever attempt at sewing a bag with a hinge frame. I used the tutorial over at Bag'n-telle for drafting the pattern and for guidance on construction. Those frames are tricksy!

Decided to keep the back of the bag free of extra decoration! I had to trim off some of the zip so that I could slide the top of the bag into the frame (and also so I could sew together the outer and lining sides without breaking anything!)

All the zips were sewn onto a scrap of denim, using cotton from my vintage sewing box since so much of it was the right colour. Hooray!

Although this clutch is pretty small, it's just the right size for a phone, small purse, cards and keys.

Probably space for a couple of lipsticks, too ;)

Here's a shot of the lining fabric! It was a scrap left over from my pillowcase shopper. I love this fabric, and still have one more pillowcase left to craft from!

Somewhen I might post a brief how-to on this bag, though I forgot to take pictures at some stages in the sewing process. *sweatdrop*

Can't wait to see what other people have come up with for this challenge! Some people have already posted their finished clutch--so far what I've seen is amazing.

Edit: Voting is now up! View all entries and vote for your favourite over at Ricochet and Away!



Edit to add: My clutch won the silver! Yay! Congratulations to the other winners--check them out at sew la vie

Linking up here (or check the bottom of the page!) and: