Tuesday Tutorial: The Charmed Romantic Clutch

Just wait till you hear what this sweet little clutch is made from! It come to moi one day at brunch as I was eating a chocolate-covered strawberry & happened to lower my glance down to the lovely placemat upon which my gilded porcelain plate sat…okay, so that’s not how it happened at all…it happened at the Dollar Tree (my fav muse of a shop). When I picked up the fancy brocade-looking placemats at my local dollar store I knew I was holding the makings of a great bag…

Here’s What You Need
-1 fabric placemat
-sewing machine & thread (or needle & thread)
-decorations (I used ribbons, buttons, & charms)
-snaps (you could use metal sew-in snaps, Velcro, or even a zipper)
-hot glue gun (optional)
-felt (optional)

What To Do
Figure out how you want your clutch to look. For example: How big? How big of a flap do you want?


Once you’ve figured that out, fold it to how you want it, & sew along the sides. You can try to trace one of the stitch lines already on the placemat or just stitch down the side.


Sew in your snaps. CONFESSION: I haven’t added any type of closure to my bag yet!

Decorate your clutch. I used ribbons to create ruffled flowers, &, here’s another CONFESSION: I hot glued my flowers to a slightly smaller piece of felt, & then hot glued that to the flap of my clutch. I also added a bit of braided thread, on which I strung a charm bead + buttons that I added some metal rings & pink thread to. I then hot glued each thread end behind each flower.

Ta da! What an utterly charming romantic bag for an evening out…whether you have a date or not! =) I love that this clutch is nice & roomy, & you don’t even have to worry about a lining, since most fabric placemats feature fabric on each side! They’re good enough to eat on! =) I’m not sure if I’m completely done with mine or not…I might add more…hmmm…I’m not quite certain!