Mindy Carlson

E, my 7 year old, is sick today. (Poor baby!) So I’m forced – forced, I tell you – to stay home and sew more bags.   Poor me.
I was part way through one of my cute shopper bags when I ran out of the thread color I need to finish the quilting part of it.  It’s going to be very cute with a TARDIS blue lining and edging.  If I have extra blue fabric left I am totally going to design a TARDIS clutch.

So instead of sitting here and bemoaning my fate I dug out a set of antiqued brass purse frames and some really awesome velvet fabric my sister-in-law Ellie gave to me for Christmas a year or two ago.   A clutch made correctly with a purse frame is a thing of beauty.  Plus it can be used for those moments when you need some instant gratification from your creativity.  Most purses can take anywhere from an entire 12 hour day to 3 days.

Working with purse frame, however, is a pain in the butt.  Mostly due to the glue.  The glue you use is an industrial strength fabric glue that you can sometimes find at Micheal’s and often find at A.C. Moore.  In fact, here are all the extra materials I need for a clutch frame purse.

You need to use a goodly amount of glue because the glue is the only thing between you and tears.  Often the glue ushers you right into tears, but – hey – art is supposed to be emotional, right?  To prevent too many tears I always use the painter’s tape to mask my fabrics around my glue edge so I don’t ruin some really wonderful fabric and an awesome clutch frame by getting glue all over everything.  Again.  (I am still bitter about that bag.  And I keep it at my bench as a reminder that you should never cut corners when it comes to using glue.)

The flat-tipped screwdriver is there to help you smoosh the edge of the bag into the frame.  What happens is the glue starts to grip the fabric and the bag and the setting process begins. My fingers tend to me a little bit clumsy when deal with sticky glue, bulky fabric, and a completely unforgiving bag frame and the screwdriver really helps.

Oh, and you WILL get glue on the frame. Don’t worry.  This rubs right off after it drys.  The glue will not, however, come off any fabric that you get it on.   No matter how much you wash it.  I still have pair of jogging pants with a dab of glue on them from about 3 years ago.

The tweezers are to help you get those final little bits of painter’s tape from around the frame.  Because you always end up with that little bitty sliver of blue tape that you can’t get with your fingernails.

However, it is all worth it. Check out these beauties!

The bags are the perfect size for a party (8″x6″x3″). There are tabs for attaching a chain or other handle if I want.  The fabrics are AMAZING and really make the bags fun.  The purple fabrics are made with a special weaving technique that creates an abstract floral design.  I wish I had more of the fabric, but I used every scrap of this fabric that I had for these bags.

Both of these beauties will be for sale at my Trunk Show on December 8 and 9.  PM me for directions and times.  Or ask me to add you to the Evite.