Clutch Bag
By Carl Boyd
Materials
This very easy to make clutch bag is ideal for evening and would be perfect for a bride, and a great christmas present. Also uses up those yarn oddments we all have stowed away all over the house.You need about 100g of yarn depending on type, wool, acrylic, novelty etc. in 4ply or any yarn that is 1 or 2ply that can be used 2 or 4 fold. I used Yeomans Supersheen 4 fold on TD4 as you want a nice firm fabric. You also need ½ metre of pelmet Vilene costing approximately £3.50 metre and a novelty buckle plus a small piece of matching lining.
First Step
Take the vilene and and cut an oblonge to measure 15” x 10 ½” ( 38 x 26.5cm ). Divide the longside into 3 putting a pencil mark on both sides at 5” and 10” and draw two lines across giving you 3 sections.Knit a tension swatch in you chosen yarn on TD4 and calculate how many stitches and rows you require to knit a 16 ¼” x 10 ½ ” piece of fabric, the extra 1¼” on the lenth is ¾” for the inside hem and ½” for ease so bag folds without pulling. My swatch gave me 9 sts and 12 ½ rows to one inch ( 2.5cm ) which meant 94 Nds and 200 rows to get my fabric. If its slightly wider or longer, don’t worry, just do a little cut & sew.
Side Gusset
For the side gussets I cast on over 12 Nds and knit 132 rows putting a marker each end of row 66. which gave me a strip 10 ½” long ( slight variation in the width is not that important ). Press to roughly 1” wide by 10 ½” and turn down a ¼” at each end and press. Now press the fabric to size and with wrong side facing you turn down a ¾” hem at the top and press. Place knitting onto vilene right side facing you and pin round the edge easing in fullness between each end, opening up hem so edge of vilene is level with the hem fold as in Diagram 1.
Place a marker thread each end of the drawn lines on vilene then place right side up. Take the gusset and lay on top , matching markers and having each end almost on 2nd marker and vilene edge and fold line as in Diagram 2.
Make The Lining
Take the lining and cut to 15 ¾” x 10 ½” making a ¾” hem at one end and press. Pin lining to knitting right sides together with both hems open, starting at the hem edge machine down long side, across bottom and back to hem edge. Re-enforce the two corners by about 1” either side and trim diagonally across close to stitching, turn through like a pillowcase and press the seams. Fold hems to inside with vilene inside the knitted hem and slipstitch lining to fabric.
Finishing Touches
For a neat edge, top stitch about ¼” from edge around the 4 sides. With rightsides together fold gussets in half at marker and stitch very close to edge, turn down small hem and slipstitch into place. Lightly press top and bottom folds and turn bag to right side. Sew a large press stud on to bag so that its about 1” from flap edge, don’t worry about stitching showing on right side of flap as this will be covered by the buckle. I covered my press stud with the matching lining to give a professional finish as in the photograph.For the decoration you need to knit 5 pieces of rouleau as follows :- Push 4 Ns on main bed and 3 on ribber to WP as for full needle rib, set tensions on both beds as far below 0 as they will go slide lever on II, knit cast on row. Hang a wire-loop type weight hanger (shaped like a 7) and a small weight, gently pull on both ends of the cast on row which will pull the Ns closer together which gives a much neater cast on. Set carriages for cicular knitting so that the next movement knits on ribber first, TD up 3 clicks on both beds, knit 3 rows (carriage on the right). RC000 TD4/4 knit to RC218, transfer stitches to main bed and cast off. Stich buckle on to bag covering press stud stitching and thread the rouleau through, starting at the outside first and working to the centre. Invisibly stitch into place. The way I decorated the bag is only a suggestion, you can decorate it in many different ways using flowers, beads ribbon etc. just be creative and have fun.
Carl