by Chanell Gautreaux

Created on: July 06, 2009

Clutch purses are stylish fashion accessories that are simple and quick to make. One can easily craft a basic clutch purse in less than an hour from just a rectangle of fabric, needle and thread and the closure of choice.

When deciding on a style for your clutch you will want to choose a seasonal fabric that will provide you with the desired form and functionality. Velvet isn't the best choice for summer and recycling a woven straw placemat doesn't quite work with your winter fashions.

Once you have chosen the appropriate material for your clutch purse you will want to choose some embellishments to make it stand out. Chinese silk brocade is beautiful in its own right so a border of silk ribbon or simple piping will make a statement without shouting from across the room. A frog closure will further set the clutch apart from its everyday counterparts.

For summer, a nice lightweight linen, canvas or even seersucker fabric could do the trick trimmed in rickrack or accented by a coconut shell button or your own polymer clay bead. In fall consider corduroy or felted wool with optional shoulder straps. The possibilities are endless, limited only by your own imagination.

Once you have made one clutch purse you will want to continue making them so it's a good idea to gather some essential supplies to have everything you will need on hand such as fabric, zippers, buttons, seam tape, ribbon and so forth.

Choosing Fabric

Because your clutch purse is an accessory almost anything goes in the way of fabric. Solids, stripes, prints, brocades, the choice is completely up to you. Remnants, fat quarters, swatches, scrap bags, bandanas, recycled table linens, even old clothing are all sources for cloth to create your clutches. Fabric stores almost always have a bin or two of remnants that are too small to wrap back onto a bolt. Likewise they will often have a table or two of bolts they are trying to clear out as well and you may luck out and find nice fabric as little as one dollar per yard.

Quilting stores carry packets of assorted "fat quarters," one-quarter yard lengths of fabric that are color coordinated for use in patchwork designs. Fabric on the bolt will either have a width of 36 or 44/45 inches. Normally, when you ask the store clerk to cut a quarter of a yard you will end up with a narrow strip of fabric that is 9 inches long by the width of the fabric. Fat quarters give you a larger square to work with that is the same amount of fabric, just with

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