Tutorial: Perfect Little Travel Clutch

As promised, here is the tutorial for the Perfect Little Travel Clutch along with the pattern.  This newer version is not quite like the original because I made some tweaks to my original design.  I didn't really feel secure with it opening all the way up, the snap was too heavy, the zipper is too complicated to explain.... so here we are to simpler version.  Don't you love this soft sweet print?  I dug deep in my vintage stash for this baby.

Let's tour this clutch before we start.   The outside looks the same but the inside doesn't unfold as you will see in the picture at the end of this post.

The inside has two card sleeves and a velcro pocket to keept cash.

It also holds one or numerous passports.  Perfect to keep all the travel essentials in one place. 

Now, onto the tutorial.  I tried really hard to get the pattern perfect but it isn't.  You can download the PDF version HERE, HERE, and HERE or if you have trouble with that, shoot me an email and I will send it to you.  

So, you first want to print out the pattern, tape it together like the picture below.  Sorry for the bad quality.  Fold your outer fabric in half, line up the fold on the pattern to the fold in the fabric, pin and cut.

Now lets, have fun and pin tuck.  Line up your ruler make a dot at every inch.  I use a quilting pen that erases with water [one of my favorite tools].  I marked it on the top and on the bottom.  There is a great pin tuck tutorial here [and this is where I got inspired to make a clutch].  Basically, a pin tuck is a fold that is about 1/8 of an inch and sewn down.  You can iron it, but I just eye balled and sewed. 

I absolutely love the extra texture the pintuck gives the clutch.  Start on the left and do three tucks.  Skip two dots and do three on the right.  I got lazy and didn't create a pattern piece for the lining so use your main fabric as a pattern to cut the lining and the interfacing.

Now lets work on the inside velcro pocket.  Use pattern page 3 and cut two pocket pieces out.  Sew leaving a small opening.  Turn it right side out and iron.  Pin it about 4 and a half inches from the bottom and make sure the side with the opening is on the bottom. 

Mark where the pocket is going to lay on the lining.  Sew the rough side of the velcro about 1/4 of an inch from your mark.  Then sew the soft side of the velcro about 1/4 of an inch from the top.  Sew down the pocket onto the lining.

Cut out four pieces for the credit card pockets and follow the same steps as above.  You can even use a fancy stitch to top stitch.  Line it up on the lining where you want to sew it and sew all the way around.  I made them extra long but if you want your cards to stick out a little, put a card inside, pin where you want it to sit and sew a line across.

Now sew the bottom credit card pocket and measure how much you want the card to stick out with a pin.

Now lay the lining inside the outer portion and mark where you want the velcro to go.  There should be a piece of velcro on the inside of the lining and one on the bottom of the outer layer.

Once you have sewn the velcro down, make some bias tape or buy some. Attach the bias tape to the bottom of the clutch to cover the raw edges.  Then fold over the clutch and sew down the sides if you want. 

Now add the bias tape all the way around the clutch.  To make it look more neat, fold over where the bias tape starts and finishes.

Once the bias tape is sewn in, TADA you have the Perfect Little Travel Clutch.