Amanda vs Pendleton Wool Clutch

Guys, this is seriously one of the laziest things I have ever sewn and probably doesn’t need a blog post. But sometimes you need to celebrate the easy wins especially when they are sewn up in super fancy fabric. Why hello there super cute clutch!

This is the Pendelton Clutch Kit pattern and fabric from Fancy Tiger Crafts. This kit includes nearly everything needed to make the clutch including Pendleton Wool jacquard, canvas interfacing, lining fabric, buttons, a leather strap, and the pattern instructions. I have been eyeballing these kits online for ages as a way to try Pendleton Wool in a small enough piece I could afford but couldn’t justify the cost of shipping (curse you weak Aussie dollar). Luckily, a friend of mine was kind enough to let me ship a kit to her hotel when she was in the States earlier this year. Thank you to fabulous travelling friends who let you use up their luggage allowances!

I’d read a lot online about the loveliness of Pendleton Wool and have to say it is super nice to work with. It is the right amount of squishy, recovers well from vigorous unpicking and sews up easily. I went with the Silver Ranch Arroyo colour way for my kit and made up the version with the two button closure.

Construction wise, there really isn’t a huge amount going on here. It’s a nice and easy rectangular clutch and the instructions come listed in the packet. If you want some further support there looks to be a class on Creativebug but as I didn’t use that I can’t speak to this at all. One thing I will tell you is there is exactly the amount of fabric you need. So if you snip a little corner off to take to the local fabric store to thread match you will have to work around it later on >.> The only challenge I faced was the bulk of wool at corners. Even with grading and clipping things just don’t sit quite flat enough. I even pulled out my point presser and clapper (finally caved and bought one from Tessuti – it is AMAZING) which helped set things a bit better but I’d still like it a little flatter.

What I liked about this pattern/kit:

• The fabric was lovely to work with. I really dig the Pendleton Wool and wish I could get my hands on some more to make a tote bag.
• How easy it was. July was a particularly rough month for our little family and this was such a soothing project to make when my brain was a bit fried.

What I would change for next time:

• Maybe go a double button closure with one button at either end or at least closer to the ends. The sides of the clutch flare out a bit as the closure is in the middle and it makes my neat freak brain a bit twitchy…

Overall, I really like this little clutch and have used it a bunch. It’s great for when I don’t want to drag my entire handbag around and the lovely pattern makes it super fun to use. I can see this kit being perfect for presents for some awesome people in my life but I think one fancy clutch is enough for me. In saying that, El Husbando, if you read this and want to buy me some Pendleton Wool so I can make a cute tote bag – my birthday is in a month… 😀