I made myself a gown for the Marine Corps Birthday Ball last November. I used maroon crepe-back satin. It has a good weight and a good drape. Since I had one and a half yards of maroon crepe-back satin left over, this year I decided to make myself a wrap and a clutch purse. I hate to throw away fabric! But then again, I hate how much room leftover fabric takes up in my closet.
For The Wrap, I used McCall's 3880, view E. I liked the lacy look, so I layered silver lace over the satin.
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| The Wrap |
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| Inside (A) |
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| Outside (B) |
The trickiest part was the opening, where the wrap pulls through itself. I followed the directions given for the pattern, which says to hand stitch the closure shut after you turn it right side out {see Outside (B)}. I think it would have looked more professional if I had stitched it before I turned it right side out {see Inside (A)}.
The picture on the pattern envelope tricked me - to me, it looks like black lace on silver fabric. So the other surprise about the pattern is that you are supposed to have interfacing on the top layer. Of course, if I had put interfacing on the silver lace, the interfacing would have shown right through. So I skipped that step. Apparently, the black lace in the picture that I was looking at was all one piece of fabric.
The only other problem I came across was that the weight of the satin pulled the back of the wrap away from the lace. I fixed that by tacking down the lace with tiny stitches. Problem solved!
For The Clutch Purse, I did not use a pattern, per se. I looked at the directions for Simplicity 2166 and drew a rough sketch of what the pattern pieces looked like. It was pretty easy, since there were only two basic pieces - the purse and the flap. The purse is a 12x10 rectangle. I ironed interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric. I then folded it in half and clipped the corners (A1 - A3).
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| A 1 |
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| A 2 |
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| A 3 |
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Next, I cut the flap (it also has interfacing on the back). It is 5x12. I also clipped the corners of the flap. Then I tacked the lace on top (B1 - B2).
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| B 1 |
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| B 2 |
Next, I folded the right sides together and sewed down toward the clipped edge. I also made a small seam across the clipped edge. Then I ironed the seams flat (C1 - C2)
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| (Inside) C 1 |
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| (Outside) C 2 |
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I wanted a bow on my purse, so I made one and basted it to the front flap.
I cut another piece of fabric to match the flap, sewed it onto the flap with right sides together leaving one long side open (the side that joins to the purse). Then I turned it right side out, ironed, and attached it to the bag (D 1). To finish, I turned in the raw edges on the top of the purse. I also did edge-stitched across the top of the flap (D 2).
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| D 1 |
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D 2
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