If you’ve been following me for a while, you KNOW I can’t pass up pretty fabric… even if it’s not really meant to be sewing fabric. But, pretty colors and patterns and textures are abundant these days in so many basic items that us creatives find inspiration everywhere, right? Yep.
So here we go with another gorgeous Target find!
These napkins have the most gorgeous print ever and I couldn’t pass them up. I recently got around to using ONE of them to make a super cute clutch that I gifted to my son’s awesome teacher, and I’m giddy to think that I still have THREE napkins left to play with — YAY!
Oh and by the way, whilst visiting my store the other day I noticed that they now have the matching placemats too…so you could also make a clutch like this one here!
Supplies:
- 2 Cloth napkins – mine are about 19.5″ square
- Interfacing – I used a stiff one, cut to 9×19″
- Ribbon or bias tape – mine was cut to 29″ but it depends on how you want to use it. If you want the decorative detail like mine that runs up and down the whole clutch, cut it to 29″ — if you just want it to tie off the button, cut it to 13″
- A great button – in my opinion, the bigger the better!
- Pins, thread, scissors…
- Fold napkin in half, insert your ribbon or bias-tape in between the two layers and pin it closed. I put the open end of the bias-tape facing out, and left a long 10″ tail. I did this just for appearance, there is no value other than it’s a cute detail. You can leave this part out if you want and just sew the two edges of the napkin together without the ribbon/bias-tape, but you’ll need to shorter piece of ribbon for the closure.
Fold napkin in half, insert ribbon/bias-tape if using, and pin closed
Fabric sandwich – napkin edge, bias-tape, napkin edge
Leave a long tail – mine was 10″
- Sew down the length of the pinned edge, going back and forth a few times at each end to tie off the thread. Be sure you’re catching the ribbon/bias-tape in your stitch if you’re using it, and continue to sew all the way down it’s length or it will open up on you.
If using bias-tape sew all the way down the length of the tail
- Open your new tube of a napkin and lay it out so that the seam you just made is in the center — you can press the fabric to keep it steady.
Open the new napkin tube and shift it to lay flat with the seam in the center
Seam in center of new napkin tube
I just love this detail!
- Insert your interfacing! It should fit nicely in between the two layers of fabric. Go press again, following the instructions of the interfacing (or not, whatever – you’re going to sew it in place and it’s just for structure).
Insert interfacing
- Sew along the bottom edge, sewing the tube shut, catching the interfacing in your stitch.
Sew along bottom edge, making sure to catch the interfacing
- Sew along the top as well — BUT if you’re using a short piece of ribbon or bias-tape, this is where you’ll insert it in the center of the edge and sew it in place. If you did it like mine, it will already be there and you’ll need to either sew over the top of it or sew up to the sides of it depending on your preference.
Sew along the top edge – add ribbon if you haven’t already
- Now fold your clutch. Place it face down (ribbon/bias-tape detail down) and fold up from the bottom to where you like it, pin in place, and then fold the top down. You can play with it a bit to get the right spot. Once you have it, PRESS!
Lay detail face down,Fold and pin the bottom half up
- Take the clutch back to the machine, lift up the top flap and sew up the bottom side edges just to where the pocket fabric ends. Be sure to go back and forth a few times to ecure and close the stitch.
Sew up the bottom side edges
- Now hand-sew your button on the bottom portion of the clutch. Tie a knot in your bias-tape or ribbon, or seal it with some fray check.
Sew on button, knot the tail
- Ta Daaaaaaa!
- ***I later went back and added some decorative stitching in another color thread just for fun, but didn’t get a good picture of it (of course) — you can kind of see it here, I did it on the top and bottom edges.
Affiliate Disclaimer: You know how much I love Target – that’s WHY I am an affiliate, I’m happy to promote their awesome stuff. If you buy anything online using my links, I’ll get a few pennies! 😉
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