DIY LEOPARD CLUTCH

Italian designer Valentino has a studded leopard clutch to die for!  It's made of calf hair and leather with a canvas lining and the infamous gold pyramid studs. Retailing over $1600, one can only admire from afar.

JLo

Sannam and Style 

Are you thinking what I'm thinking Pinky? Take over the world? No, let's DIY our own Valentino.

We need supplies. Hobby Lobby here I come.  I bought a yard of leopard faux fur fabric and a yard of interfacing (interfacing provides added stiffness to flimsy fabric). The original clutch has a canvas lining, but I'm going to line mine with a silk lining that I removed from a shirt.

I cut (2) 14 X 9 pieces of the fabric and the interfacing and (2) 14 1/2 X 10 pieces of the silk. The lining will not be sewn with the fabric, because it will be loose inside the clutch.

I pinned the interfacing and fabrics together. 

Flipped it over and inserted and pinned the zipper.

Sew close to the teeth of the zipper. If the zipper pull is in the way, just pull it down.

Before sewing the interfacing and faux fur, pull the silk lining away. 

After I sewed the body of the clutch, I used a clip and tucked it inside, so I can sew the silk lining by itself.

Make sure you take the clip off before sewing all the sides of the lining.

                            
                          I forgot to and had to take a seam ripper and reach in and take it off.

                         ( I could have made it easier on myself by turning the clutch right side out and

                                   reached in and pulled out the lining and hand sewn it.)

Lastly, turn the clutch right side out. Notice how the lining gives it a professional polished look.

Maybe I'll add the gold pyramid studs later.

Thanks to Brandhyze from Frugal-nomics for the inspiration.

LEATHER IS TRENDING PART 3

Leather will always be trending. I've made two faux leather shirts for my son, here and here, this time, I'm gonna make one using real leather.

I went to Walmart and bought a boys size 2XL Hanes sweatshirt. Since this is for my son and he prefers a slimmer fit, a mens sweatshirt would have been too bulky. And once again, I'm gonna use my old leather coat.

All I need is the back panel of the coat, so I cut off the surrounding material.

I cut the bottom off, because it was too long.  Used a ruler to center the leather panel. And traced the panel on the front of the sweatshirt and then cut it out.

Next, I turned the sweatshirt inside out and pinned it on the sweatshirt. 

After constantly sticking myself with the pins and about an hour of sewing, here is the finished product.

Here's my son rockin' it.

I love how he's not afraid to wear my creations!