Adding a strap to your fold over party clutch, Corkstopper week.

I am sew excited to introduce you again to a beautiful lady and one of my pattern testing team, Hermione from LTB Designs. Hermione is my guest blogger and bringing you the long awaited tutorial on how to add a cork strap to your fold over party clutch.....get excited!

 

 

 

Onto the Fold Over Party Clutch. This is a fun little pattern with some creative options for contrasting fabrics. It’s a good pattern for a confident beginner, although I think some experience with making bags would be helpful when following the pattern. I had a customer who wanted one but she wanted a removable cross body strap that could be hidden when she used it as a clutch (no loops out the side with visible rings when the strap was detached). Here’s a quick tutorial on how I did it.

1. Attach your magnetic snaps on the front half of your body panel.

 

2. Fold the panel so that the magnetic snap is together, then you can see where the fold line will be. Mark the fold on each side with an air erasable marker. 

 

 3. Mark a line along the half inch seam allowance just below the fold line, this is where your D ring will sit

 

4.   Do this for both sides.

 

5. Cut two strips of cork leather 3 inches long and whatever width will fit the D rings you’ve used. Fold them in thirds as shown in the photo with the D ring attached. Pin them so that when extended the rings just touch the lines you marked as shown.

**don’t pin through the cork as the marks will be permanent. You can use masking tape and sew through it, then rip it off, or pin as I’ve done here so that the cork is held between the two pinned pieces.

 

 

 

6. Sew the tabs on, make sure to lengthen your stitch to  3.5 or more.

 

7.       Follow the rest of the instructions and finish off your clutch! To make your cross body strap you will want it to be about 44-50 inches long, attach it with swivel clasps and you’re done.

 

Finally here are my top tips for working with cork leather ( I’m no expert but this is from my several months experience working with it).

1.       Use a finer leather needle, I use size 80. If you find your machine struggles to get through layers on seams etc try a sharps needle.

2.       Lengthen your stitch similarly to working with leather or vinyl. I do seams with 3.5 and top stitching on 5. If you stitch too close together it can tear.

3.       I usually use upholstery thread in both needle and bobbin for the seams with high tension so they hold strongly, it will depend on how your machine handles it.

4.       You CAN backstitch once on cork, but if you can it’s better to pull the top thread through to the back and tie a knot with the bobbin thread tail.

5.       If your cork leather is like mine, it’s on a PU coated textile backing. You can interface it but only on wool setting with steam. Too hot and it can separate from the cork layer when it cools, so be gentle with it.

6.       If you’re using for straps and it will have long raw edges, cut crossways, selvedge to selvedge. Otherwise it will fray! (Ask me how I know, grrr).

 

Thank you Hermione! This is fabulous. I look forward to seeing straps on your fold over pasrty clutches very soon.

 

Happy Sewing,

Kylie. x

Give your clutch the WOW factor- Corkstopper post # 3

It is the small details that make our handmade bags really professional looking. Today I want to share with you one of my favourite ways to ‘dress up’ the Fold Over Party Clutch.

-  Zipper Choice -

The choice of zipper that you use can really make your Fold Over Party Clutch pop. The zipper is a focal point in this design so choose your zipper carefully if you want it to have that extra WOW factor.

Melisa Jane has made some stunning Fold Over Party Clutches, with an eye for detail these clutches really stand out as top notch.

My favourite zips for The Fold Over Party Clutch are these beautiful, top quality YKK metal zippers from Boo Designs! The zipper pulls are an instant seller for me and I love the look of the metal zipper teeth with this clutch. Priced at $5 AU each with discounts available for multiple zips. Check out the Boo Designs Website for details.

So now you know where I source my cork fabric and zippers - you too can create amazing boutique fold over party clutches for yourself, just be warned....they do become addictive.

Happy Sewing,
Kylie x

 

Special Little Moo Cork Fabric Discount

Welcome to the second post in my Cork Stopper series about the fabulous eco-friendly, cork fabric.

Blog post 1 was a great starting point to learn all the basics about this fabulous textile; today I have something exciting to share with you.....its an exclusive discount with my cork supplier JUST FOR YOU!

Cork fabric is on par with leather price wise, if you are using it for the fold over party clutch you won't need too much though, so use it as an feature and it becomes a bit more affordable. Unfortunately the Aussie $ being so low makes conversion rates quite expensive.

I have used the natural colour cork for my clutches as I love the variance in colours and softness which compliments the peach colourways in this Tula Pink Saltwater fabric.

However- cork is available in all sorts of colours, not just natural so you are bound to find one that you love.

This is just some of the amazing range from my supplier - Frame Your Bag on Etsy. Even better - you can get an exclusive Little Moo Discount which I have arranged just for you!

Enter the code: LITTLEMOOCORK for and extra 10% off. How exciting!!

Happy Shopping.

Kylie x

Sewing with cork fabric, Day 1 #Corkstopper

Hello Hello!
A new year brings about reflection and new goals for most of us.
For me, 2016 is a year where I plan to extend my design work and sewing skills and  to share this with you along the way. So stick around if this interests you as well.

To begin this journey I have been researching my love of eco-friendly fabrics. I love to Upcycle and am known for bringing home leather jacket bargains from opportunity shops and turning them into amazing bags and clutches, this is my idea of fun!

During my research, I stumbled across an amazing fabric called "Cork Fabric."
I had never heard of it before so got chatting to some other bag sewers who have been using it for a while. They made it sound so easy to sew with and I love the natural look of it against fabrics, what a fabulous combo. So I ordered some....and so began a love affair of cork!

Now when you think of cork........you may think of wine bottles? Well I sure did. So I thought it was better that I bring in someone who knows all about this amazing fabric to share tips and ideas.

I would like to introduce my guest blogger: Hermione from LTB Designs.

Hi I’m Hermione, I’m the founder and owner of LTB Designs, a small home run business in Perth Western Australia. I started my little business on Facebook a little over a year ago when my baby was 6 months old, partly because I needed a hobby and also I really wanted to stay home with him. At first I made MCN (modern cloth nappies), then cloth pads and children’s clothing. Then I found my passion in making bags and wallets! This launched me into a whole new world of patterns and hardware and online bag making groups. I came across Little Moo Designs last year, and not only does she have some excellent patterns, I also always try and support other Australian businesses wherever I can. The lovely Kylie has asked me to share a bit about working with cork leather, and also a hidden cross body strap modification that I did on a Fold Over Party Clutch for a customer. (Stay tuned for that tut later in the week)...

 

 

My associate and I looked at a lot of different options when we decided to move the business into only bags, wallets and accessories (I’ve been so busy that a friend is working with me now to make the ready to sell items). We use mostly quite expensive baby wrap scrap fabrics for our bags, and wanted something nicer to use than denim or canvas with these gorgeous pieces of textile art! Being eco-friendly and sustainable was really important to us, as was high quality and a point of difference. Then we came across cork leather! Here are our reasons for choosing to work with it for most of our items:

·         It’s sustainable. Now this might not be the case with all suppiers, I’d do some research on where you’re sourcing it from. We chose to buy from Portugal as their product was sustainably sourced from forests in the EU.

·         It’s vegan. We found that this was something that’s important to our customer base, and for me personally I find working with leather or vinyl problematic as I’m very chemically sensitive (which brings me to my next point)

·         It’s low chemical and a more eco-friendly option. Vinyl is petrochemical based and manufactured with a lot of rather nasty chemicals, and leather is actually not a lot better with the chemicals used to process it. Here is a quote from the etsy page of the supplier we purchase from in Portugal: “The majority of the raw and auxiliary materials used in the production of our cork fabrics is of natural origin. Additionally, synthetic materials are used to achieve certain product characteristics. For the production of cork fabric no heavy metals or their compounds, organic solvents, mineral fibres or formaldehyde are used.
These cork fabrics are free from substances which could cause harm to the environment or health.”

·         It’s quality. This stuff wears very much like a thinner leather, it doesn’t crack like vinyl. It feels lovely, it looks beautiful, and it lasts.

·         It’s super easy to work with! It doesn’t stick to your machine foot or plate, no special needle required (I’ll give some tips later on sewing with it), and it cuts easily and cleanly with scissors or a rotary cutter. It has a little stretch which makes it even easier to manoeuvre!

 

Well if you weren't excited to try cork before, you will be now! Thanks for such a fabulous intro to cork Hermione. Stay tuned for more blog posts in the Cork Stopper Series, we have tutorials, exclusive Little Moo Discounts on cork fabric,  tips and tricks to sew with this gorgeous fabric and a whole lot of fun!

Are you wanting to try sewing with cork fabric? Feel free to leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts.

 

Happy Sewing.

Kylie. x