Thursday, November 21, 2013

Denim Bonanza! quick DIY tutorial on my Denim Crotch Clutch~




I've had quite a lot of people ask how I made my Denim Crotch clutch so since I had a day off work I thought I'd make another one but photograph my process this time so I could share.

I made the original crotch clutch a nearly a year ago now and it was just something I randomly thought of after noticing how many "fat jeans" I had nothing to do with. I love recycling so I decided to see if I could make a clutch out of it. The first one I made was hand stitched but since I recently aquired a sewing machine I wanted to try again and this time it was not only much faster but I feel it'll last better with wear.

Now for the tutorial 

Firstly you'll need a pair of jeans you don't care about (could easily pick some up at a thrift store for $2.5-$5
The clutch will be made up of one of the front pockets and the zipper/button opening.



Here I was Measuring the original clutch so that I had an idea of how big I wanted the new one  



Start cutting into the jeans, making sure to leave half an inch of extra fabric for sewing.  



 You will pretty much remove the back of the jeans only leaving about 3-4 inches to one side of the zipper so that the zipper can be centered on the clutch. Of course if you want the zipper anywhere else you can adjust however you see fit. Remember that it's best to leave extra material then to cut too much.
WARNING BE MINDFUL OF THE POCKET! 



You don't want to cut the pocket so make sure you move it out of the way if you need to cut near or around it.


 This is what it will look like before you start to sew. Don't worry about cutting the same perfectly at first, you can always go back and reshape it slowly to get your desired shape.


 Once you have the shape that you want turn it inside out and start to sew leaving a bit of room between the edge and where the stitching will be.


 Again, be mindful of the pocket and make sure you move it out of the way when you're sewing to make it functional. As you can see I had leftover material on the edges, you can cut it but I just leave it since it's going to be on the inside of the clutch anyway. I sewed the side opening first to make sure the clutch's shape stayed true to how I wanted it.


 Do the same for the bottom and like I said before it's best to have too much material than too little. Once you've done both open sides turn your clutch right-side out. The top of the jeans will still be open but you want that to lay flat so you don't want to sewing it from the inside or it'll take away from the blue jean look and feel.



 As you can see here I've stitched the top part but I did it in two parts. I wanted to be able to undo the button for easier access (something I didn't do the first time around) this way I can open it wider and can fit my bigger sunglass case if I wanted to.



 BAM! now you have a quirky, fun fashion accesory that certainly will start conversations. The denim is not an extremely thick fabric so it'll be a bit slouchy so a perfect square is not something that really matters. Personally I like a bit of that not so perfect look. Keep in mind that trial and error does happen so don't sure your favorite pair of jeans for this. You can also costomize these anyway you want to. Leaving the belt loops even allows for you to add a strap to make it a fun little satchel.

As you can see I can fit quite a lot in the little clutch. My wallet, pack of gum, keys, chapstick and even some sunglasses fit with no issues. The inside pocket for things you don't want falling out and the back pocket is for anything you need to grab quickly. 




I also want to thank these two fabulous blogs who featured my clutch a few weeks ago <3 it really does mean the world to me that other people even care what I'm doing. So thank you again ladies! 




I hope the tutorial made sense as I'm still new at explaining how I do things it's a bit hard to know if others will understand how I explain things. If you do need help with anything leave me a comment and I will reply as soon as I see it.

I would love to know if anyone does make one of these so tag me on instagram @iruisu or leave me a comment here! with much love, Luis. 

PS: stay fabulous <3 

2 comments:

  1. Brilliant Luis, thanks SO much for the mention, and for the tutorial too!

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    1. Just returning the favor! <3 I'd love any advice you have on explaining the process or what I can explain a bit better, you do it so well that whenever you do tutorials.

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