DIY recycled denim clutch

Ever had a pair of old blue jeans, maybe with a hole in them, or they just didn't fit anymore? Me too. Need a project to use up all that bountiful denim? How about a denim clutch! You can use it to store make-up or your point and shoot...and maybe a million other things! Here is what you will need;

Recycled Denim Clutch

9" X 12" piece of denim

8" X 10" cotton lining

8" X 10" Fusible Interfacing

1" piece of velcro

Various stripes of both denim and cotton for embellishment

Using your decorative strips of cotton, turn and press the edges under so that it is smaller than the decorative strip of denim. Pin in place and then top stitch the two strips together. Make as many of these as you want in any size to decorate the outside of your clutch. Make sure the cotton is smaller than the denim, so it can later be frayed. You could also do his in reverse like I have for one of my strips. Next, pin them in place on your 9" X 12" denim fabric to create your design. Cut to correct length Carefully top stitch them in place. Fray your denim to your liking. You can simply just pull out the denim threads one by one until you have achieved the amount of fray that you like. Fuse your cotton lining with your interfacing. Then, place fused side of lining to wrong side of denim and edge stitch all the way around lining. Now, create your bindings for the opening of clutch. I just cut them to the desired length, turned the edges under and pressed. Then, I sewed on the 1" piece of Velcro to the inside of the binding and pinned bindings over the raw edge opening of the clutch and top stitched in place. Lastly, I stitched the sides together and once again frayed the edges! This project took me less than an hour to complete and works great store all of my small pattern drafting supplies, like my awl, seam ripper, tracing wheel, etc. Hope you enjoy being crafty!!! -Ruth-