In the Clutch

A few weeks ago, I posted the (kinda-sorta) pattern review for the overnight bag C Girl won in the Halloween contest.  This review is for the other prize recipient, Melody Brown.  This is the same pattern (Simplicity 2274), but for Melody, I made the clutch purse.  We decided to go with the same sparkly bat fabric that I used for the handles and lining of the overnight bag.  For the lining, we went with a matching green.

The gap is most apparent in the upper right corner

Because the bat fabric is a one-way design (and the purse is folded over on itself twice), I split the outer pattern into three pieces along the fold lines (plus seam lines).  The lining and interfacing were kept as one piece.  This would have worked out perfectly if the fold lines and placement for the closure were in the right place on the pattern.  They weren't.  When I folded over the top and snapped it shut, there was a large gap; it was large enough that car keys and the like could have easily slipped out.

That wouldn't do at all, so I ripped open the top edges.  My intent had been to move the closure and put a patch over the old hole (it was only in the lining, so it would only show when it was open).  But when I folded the purse where the fold should have been, the lip hung over the bottom of the purse.  So much so that I had to cut off the excess, and with that, the old hole for the closure.  So yay, no patch!

Now it came to simply reinsert the closure.  I had been concerned the prongs would be difficult to bend back and forth, but it presented no problems.  I did, however, reinforce the slits with some heavy-duty interfacing.  Due to the stress the closure would be under, I didn't want the closure to pull out of or tear the fabric.

Once I moved the closure, the opening was top-stitched shut.  And when I folded it over:

 voila, the gap has been eliminated.

NB: this purse calls for a magnetic closure.  If you make this and want it to hold your cell phone, MP3 flash drive, etc, you might want to consider a different type of closure, such as a really big button or Velcro.