DIY Furry Clutch with Eyes | Make Thrift Buy #32

Hello! Welcome back to another episode of
Make, Thrift, Buy – the show where you send

in accessories or clothing that you’ve seen
on the internet, and then I try and recreate

it, through a combination of crafting or thrifting
or sometimes – both!

Today’s challenge is this super cute fluffy
purse/clutch thing, suggested by Anonymous.

Now I don’t know why Anonymous didn’t
want to leave their name, but you did direct

me straight to the German Asos website so
I know that you are at least from Germany

or speak German! Detective skills.
Also ASOS is where the original purse can

be found, but it seems to be perpetually out
of stock.

So I thought that I would try and recreate
it for myself.

So, let’s begin!

So – fluffy fabric. My old arch nemesis.
I bought this fake fur fabric for new, from

spotlight, because I didn’t want to chance
another fluffy blue shorts incident by using

some unknown thrifted material.
But, it does appear that any fluffy fabric

just… goes everywhere .

DID YOU SEE THAT?!

Seriously?? Come on.
Before I've even started, I’ve pulled off

enough fluff to make a small animal.

ANYWAY – once I got over that, I started
actually thinking about the project. I decided

that I wanted to make a clutch, rather than
a purse like the ASOS one. I also decided

that I wanted both sides of the clutch to
be furry, unlike the ASOS purse where one

side is this leathery material.

So, turning the fake fur over to the wrong
side, I drew out two identical rectangles

with the dimensions 12 inches by 10 inches.

Then I cut them out – and check it out,
my mum got me this rotary cutter for Christmas

which OH MY GOD makes cutting things SO much
easier. LOOK. AT. THAT. So easy. Of course,

scissors will work just fine if you don’t
have a rotary cutter yourself.

And there’s my two rectangles that will
make up the outer part of the clutch.

Now, for the inner lining. I also cut out
2 identical-sized rectangles with some lining

fabric.
And these are the 4 pieces that I will need.

The next thing that I did was to sew on some
googly eyes. I found these googly eyes that

have this plastic loop on the back so that
I can handsew them on instead of just gluing

them, which wouldn’t be as durable.
So, on one piece of outer fabric, I figure

out where I want the eyes to go and then I
sew them on by hand, using a needle and a

thread. To sew them on I go up through the
back of the fabric, through the loop at the

back of the googly eye and back down, and
then up and down a couple more times to secure

the eye in place, and then I tie a couple
of knots in the back to make one big knot

so that it’s really secure, and then cut
off the excess thread.

Then, I grabbed a zipper. And this zipper
is thrifted. The most important thing about

this zipper, though, is that it needs to be
longer than the side of the clutch where you’re

inserting it. So, my zipper needed to be longer
than 12 inches. It’s actually way longer

than that, but that doesn’t matter because
I’ll be cutting it shorter later on.

Now, to sew the clutch together, first I lay
down the lining fabric, then the zipper - right

side up, and then the fake fur, right side
DOWN.

And I make sure that the top edges of all
three are aligned.

Then, I pin the fabrics and the zip to hold
them in place, and I’m going to sew across

here.
However, when I'm sewing I’m going to flip

it over so that the foot of the sewing machine
will be gliding along the lining, rather than

the rough underside of the fake fur.

While sewing, I use a straight stitch and
a zipper foot. A zipper foot isn’t necessary

in this step, but it will make life easier!
Then, going really slowly so my sewing machine

doesn’t freak out, I sew all three layers
together.

When I’m done with that, I flip everything
over so that the right side - the fluffy side

- of the outer fabric is facing outwards.
I also temporarily pin the lining to the outer

fabric just to keep them out of the way in
the next step.

And the next step is to: repeat the same thing
again!

I lay down the lining fabric, then the zipper
(with everything attached to it) right side

up, and the last fake fur piece right side
DOWN. I make sure that they're all lined up

at the top edge, and then I pin them together,
and sew across the top like this, but along

the lining side again.

At this point, the clutch is looking like
this!

Then I half unzip the zipper, and then I fold
the fabrics over so that the two lining pieces

are on one side, and the two fake fur pieces
are on the other side, both right-sides together.

Then, I pin the zipper so that it’s folded
towards the fake fur pieces, cut off the excess

zipper pieces, and THEN, I sew using a straight
stitch around most of the outsides like THIS.

Make sure that you take extra care while sewing
over the zipper. When I got up to the zip,

I took my foot off the pedal and I used the
handwheel instead, to make sure that my needle

wouldn’t hit the zip and snap.

Make sure you're leaving a gap in the lining
fabric - you don't want to sew it totally

closed at this point.

When I had done that, I pulled everything
through the hole in the lining, and then

through the open zipper!

I also pushed out the corners
of the outer fabric, and then I pulled the

lining out one last time so that I could sew
the gap closed, like this.

And – that’s it you guys! I'm done!

So - How Did I Gooooo?

[music plays]

So can you make this for yourself?
[scissors snipping sound effect]

Yes you can! Now obviously you don't have
to make it as big and, like, clutch-sized

as I did, you can make it smaller and more
purse-sized like the one on ASOS. All you

have to do is adjust your measurements according
to how big you want it to be, just remembering

to leave about an inch or so for seam allowance.
And, as worried as I was about the fluffy

fabric going everywhere, once it's all sewed
together and there's no raw edges, the fluff

actually stays on the bag, and it doesn't
go everywhere, so, that's a good thing! And

it's super snuggly and nice and I really like
it. I also discovered that if you turn it

upside down and unzip it, it looks like it
has a mouth! Which is another great thing

about it. As always, if you attempt to make
this, or you try out any of my other tutorials,

then please tag me on instagram with the hashtag
#diyannika, because I really love seeing what

you guys come up with - it makes me really
happy! I hope you're all having a good day,

and I'll see you all for my next video. Bye!