Caramel Clutch

Here she is, my first experience in sewing with leather!

I think I did OK for my first time, but there are some things I'll do differently from now on.

I took Andrea's advice and used binder clips to hold the leather together.  It worked like a charm. She also said not to backstitch - it's amazing how automatic backstitching is, and I really had to remind myself with each seam!  I wasn't sure what kind of thread to use, but I was pretty sure that normal sewing thread wouldn't be strong enough, so I used some black upholstery thread I had left over from a pleather pillow I made years ago.  Since it is pretty slippery, and I hadn't backstitched, I tied the tails off with a surgeon's knot at the ends of each seam.  I didn't worry about it much, since all the knots end up hidden inside the lining.

I had two problems with putting this together.  First off, I used some leftover hot pink dupioni from the stash for the lining:

I always think of dupioni as a heavy-ish fabric because it is so crisp, but it really is quite thin.  If I use it again, I'll add some interfacing so I don't have to struggle with it as much.

My biggest problem was with the pleat in the leather.  One side was OK, but the pleat on the other side was so thick that I couldn't get it shoved all the way inside the channel of the frame.  I'm really hoping it holds.  In the future, I'll clip open the pleat on the inside a little bit so I don't have to try to fit three layers of leather folded over on themselves into the frame.

I mentioned when I made my first clutch that I wasn't sure what kind of glue to use.  I did a little looking around at purse making supplies on Etsy, and a recommended glue was Beacon 527; turns out this is one of the glues I used (and which I have always called barge cement, since that's how it was sold to me by a shoe repair man years ago).  So I picked up a new tube on my weekend trip to the fabric store.  My new tube has a long thin neck, which makes it much easier to squeeze glue into the channels of the frame.

I was happy with myself after finishing this one, but a little exhausted too!  After taking a few pictures, I rolled up all my leather and put it away for another day.