
A couple people asked whether I'd make a pattern for this clutch and yes, I will work on it soon. Right now I'm finishing up what is my most detailed pattern yet and after this current pattern is done I will have time for the clutch.
Another person asked where I purchased the corduroy and it came from Hart's Fabric.
Corduroy is great for making bags and is always a classic in the fall. I really want to make the City Tote using this plum corduroy, but that will have to wait until after I'm done with the pattern I'm working on now.
If you haven't sewn with corduroy before here are a few tips:
- Iron is as little as possible and when you do iron it, do so from the WRONG side of the fabric or use a press cloth.
- Use sew-in interfacing instead of fusible. I find that the pressing to adhere the fusible interfacing flatten the wales. One of corduroy's charms is its soft drape and when you attach fusible it loses that soft, flowing quality.
- Corduroy has a nap so all pieces should be cut with the nap going the same direction. You can see the nap by running your hand up the fabric. If it appears light where you ran your hand across then the nap is facing down. If it looks darker then the nap is facing up.
- When topstitching, if possible, have the corduroy side facing up so the feed dogs don't make tracks through the nap. The feed dogs sort of chew up the pile of the fabric and leave permanent marks.
- When you buy corduroy, the lower the number the thicker the wale. So a 4 wale is actually quite wide, while an 11 wale is fairly small.