Make the most amazing matching accessory to your wedding gown / guest outfit / dream date dress - in a mere hour or two, tops! You want a gorgeous box clutch made from the same dress fabric? Yes please!!!
Minaudière clutches (AKA box clutches/clamshells) oooze glamour, yet they are incredibly easy to make. Over the next few weeks we have a series of tutorials and fabulous inspiration to show you how to make your minaudière clutch - LOOK A MILLION DOLLARS!!
To get started you will need:
- to get you hands on a minaudière box clutch - we have a lovely minaudière selection in our shop (we deliver worldwide).
- you will need to cover the plastic cases of your minuadiere - to see how, check out my free tutorial. BEFORE you fix the (covered) plastic cases to the frame, read on for how to add vintage glamour to your clutch... and you may also like to see my free tutorials on how to add a partition or a gusset.
- if you prefer to see a how to film on minaudieres, check out my Craftsy Class.
Here, our first looks at the theme of vintage.
Vintage conjures up images of intricate Lace, heirloom brooches, delicate flowers, ornate tassels and below are some fantastic ideas on how you can incorporate these onto your perfect clutch.
(all images collected from Pinterest)
VINTAGE LACE & TRIMS
Look for lace, buttons, brooches, fabric flowers, ribbons, appliques in your grandma's trim stash, yard sales, charity shops, old table clothes, doilies, trims used on your wedding dress....
These need to be attached before the lining fabric. Decide on positioning (play with laying the lace vertically, horizontally, using narrow strips of lace in stripes or setting pieces slightly off-centre). When you’re happy, cut the lace (leaving some excess either side – about 1cm) and use tacky glue to attach one side to the inside edge of the shell, then hold in place with sewing clips.
Stretch and smooth the rest of the lace firmly over the clamshell and then repeat the gluing on the other side, making sure the lace is symmetrical and nice and snug against the surface of the purse. Attaching the lace like this means you avoid having to glue the lace over the shell – fiddly to apply and running the risk of the glue smudging out and ruining the surface of the purse, particularly if you’ve used silk like we have.
Finish the clamshell off as usual - see my free tutorial.
Play with layering and overlapping different pieces of lace, or try using vintage doillies.
TASSELS
Go to town on tassels. Try making your own with Wool, ribbon, or embroidery silk. You could try using extravagant key tassels or bunching up several smaller tassels to make one big flouncy gorgeous tassel.
Making your own tassels is super-easy and means you can get the perfect colour, length and width for your bag. We used a lovely textured wool that came in graduated colours.
Decide on the length of tassel you want and cut out a cardboard rectangle the same length. Start winding the wool lengthways around it, starting and finishing at the same (bottom) end. The more wool you use, the thicker the tassel will be. When the tassel has reached your desired thickness, use a strand of the same wool to gather together all the loops at the top end and tie it tightly (this is the piece you will use to attach the tassel to the bag chain, so make sure it’s long enough to play with. You may choose to plait this piece to make it look more elegant and professional). Cut through the loops at the bottom end and remove the tassel from the cardboard. To give the tassel its shape and hold it all together, gather the tassel close to the top end (about 2cm down) and tie it tightly with another length of wool (let the ends of this piece dangle down to become part of the rest of the tassel).
Knotting the tassels to the chain links means they can be removed later to make the purse super-versatile! You can leave the ends dangling if you like (if you used pretty wool or a plait) or snip them off (we used a dab of Fray Stop to stop the knots unravelling) We also stitched two small buttons together on either side to hide the knots.
You could also use skeins of embroidery thread for luxe tassel-making (super easy as the threads are already looped). We found a handy guide here.
RIBBON ROSES
There are lots of tutorials online for how to make these – this one is very straightforward. Use Gütermann fabric glue to stick your finished roses in a line, in a cluster in the corner or all over!
