Bridesmaid Clutch Bag

The idea of the clutch originated with the "Reticule" hundred years ago, during the Victorian era. It was then a mid-sized bag, made out of Lucite, Bakelite, silk, satin or brocade.  Originally popular in France, they crossed over into Britain, where they became known as "indispensables." 
Proper ladies used the "Reticule" to store their handkerchiefs during elegant evenings out on the town. This fashion then went out of style, but came back during World War II.  From the after-war to our era, the clutch purse is the evening bag of choice for women everywhere.

This zippered clutch is ideal for any occasion, morning ,evening,formal and informal parties. The outer fabric is silk with rhinestones border and scattered rhinestones all over the front. The inner fabric and sides aremade of soft white fleece. 

Dimensions
length-5 inches, width- 11 inches, depth- 4 inchesIts an perfect Bridesmaid, Mothers day, Anniversery or Birthday gift. 


Materials
Silk Fabric- 1/2 yard
Fleece fabric for lining - 1/2 yard
Quilting batting- 1/2 yard
Cardboard strip- 11 inches length 2 inches width
White zipper- 7 inch
Rhinestones- 

Stiching:
Step 1
First of all cut a hexagon from the silk fabric, in the dimensions of length 13 inches and width 13 inches
Cut two hexagons from the batting and fleece of dimension- length 11 inches and width 11 inches
Cut two cup shaped fleece fabric for the sides.
Place the fleece cut out place the cardbord in the middle of the fleece hexagon.
Then place the batting and then the silk layer, put a cotton cloth on top.
Heat the iron and apply the hot iron on the layers first the silk side then turn it, put the cotton cloth on fleece cutout and apply the hot iron two to three stroke.
Now your base for the bag is ready.

Step 2
Stich the silk fabric around the fleece by making two folds.
Stich along both the sides of the cardboard to hold it firmly with the fabric.
Now take the sides.

Again double fold and stich the sides of both the pieces individually.
place it alligning with the cardboard and stich with the sides of the bag.

Do the same thing for the other side.
Once your sides are done take the zipper and pin along the fleece fabric at the top.
Stich it carefully.

Step 3

In this step you need to apply the rhinestones. 
There are two ways to do that one is to apply it manually sticking each rhinestone with fabric glue which is tiresome and messy.
The second option is to use a bedazzeler or hot glue gun.
I used the second option.