Coupon Clutch and Etsy Pattern!

Has anyone seen "Extreme Couponing?"  I'm not a huge fan of hoarding, but that show gave my husband and I the idea to collect coupons in order to make eating organic possible.  But how do you organize them? Well, I looked on the interwebs for a tutorial, and I found a couple projects that looked similar to this:

The catch?  Either there was no tutorial, or you had to buy an expensive pattern.  I understand that many bloggers sell patterns to help support their families and whatnot, but I am already on a tight budget (hence the couponing).  So what did I do?  I made one up! For cheap!  And I am posting the tutorial for it!  And I am offering the pattern on my Etsy for only $2.00!  

Onto the tutorial!  I used bright white thread and contrasting colors so you can see each step more clearly.  First, cut the pattern pieces.

I started sewing with the dividers and the accordian sides.  Stack them with the two fabric pieces on bottom (right sides together), and the interfacing on top (for the dividers).  Then stitch up the long sides.

Then, turn them inside-out and press flat to open up the seam.  

Next, use a straight edge help turn out the seams and press. Then topstitch the top and bottom to seal it in place.  This also helps keep the interfacing stable.

Next, it's time to sew the cover.  Stack the fabric the same way you did the dividers: right sides together, interfacing on top.  Then stitch the scalloped edges on top and bottom to make the seams.  The curves and turns are a little tricky, but if you go slow you will be fine.

Then, turn it inside out, and push out and press the seams.  You may need some kind of tool to pop out the corners and curves. Then-you guessed it-topstitch.

ASSEMBLY:

First, I attached the dividers to the accordian.  Fold the accordian piece in half, and slide the divider all the way up into the crease.  Then stitch it down about 1/4 inch from the edge--just enough to catch all the layers.

Now, fold the fabric back, and a little farther down, make another fold (how many folds you make and how far to space them will depend on how many dividers you choose to have-on my pattern I have drawn the lines to make 8 dividers--it's a pretty tight fit).  Again, stick the divider into the crease and stitch it down.

Once you have sewn in all your dividers on one accordian side, then repeat with the other.  It may be slightly trickier on the other side, but just start in the middle and you will be fine.  I was able to eyeball the spacing just fine.

Now, you should have some extra fabric at the ends of your accordian sides.  This is what you will use to attach your dividers to the cover.  Decide where you would like the dividers to be inside your clutch, leaving plenty of room for the file to expand (The pattern also has a rough guide to where the folds should be in the cover).  Then pin it down and bast it close to the edge. 

Once you've done this to the front of your cover, roll the cover up around to the other side of the dividers, and attach the other side of the dividers to the back side of the clutch.

Congratulations!  You are almost there!  Now you just have to do a little finishing and you are done!

Take a strip of bias tape and pin it along the side of the clutch, covering the basting work you just did.  

Topstitch it down, then repeat.  Then add a snap or button closure to the front and you are done!  Take a look!

oh snap!

a little peek-a-boo of the dividers

Closed:

Open:

Now, the part you have been waiting for:  How do you get the pattern?  It's simple: just visit my Etsy and put in an order!  I will email it to you as soon as I can!

Check out our link parties link to see where I am linking up this week.
Also linking up to:

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Lunch Bag Tutorial

A friend of mine from work asked me if I could make her a lunch bag. She had been using Kroger (local grocery store) bags to take her lunch to and from the office. While we do have a fridge at work, food would stay colder in an insulated lunch bag. So I set out, drafted and created this for her:



So here's how you make the lunch bag. You'll need the following:

• 1/2 yard of Insul-Bright
• 1/2 yard of outer material (I prefer home decor fabric)
• 1/2 yard of liner material
• 3" of velcro

Cut the following sizes from all three pieces of fabric (insul-bright, outer and liner)

• Bottom: (1) 10"x 8"
• Short Sides: (2) 8"x7"
• Long Sides: (2) 10" x 7"
• Flap: (1) 11" x 4
• Top: (1) 11" x 8"
• Handle: 26" x 5"

Match the insul-bright to the outer material for like sizes all of the pieces. Start assembly of the outer by placing the bottom in the middle. Pin all of the sides to the bottom. Should look like this:



The home decor fabric is under the insul-bright in this picture. When you pin be sure to pin the right sides of the home decor fabric together! Here is a close-up



I should warn you that I prefer to do all pinning together and then all sewing together. I don't like to jump around. Next I pinned the sides (right sides of the fabric touching) together. Now you will have a box with the right side of the fabric facing out and the insul-bright on the inside.




Repeat and build a box with the liner.

Now it's time to build the lid! Pin together the top and the flap so right sides are facing each other. You are going to do this with both the liner and the outer/insul-bright. Below you'll see the picture of the liner/insul-bright so just repeat with the liner.




Now pin the two pieces together. Right sides should face each other with the pinned seams facing outwards.




Pinning is mostly done, so off to the sewing machine! Remember all of those pieces you pinned? Now it's time to sew along all of the edges. Just leave a small hole in the bottom of the liner. Here's a picture of the hole I left in my liner:




The tricky part with the boxes are the corners. Be patient and be sure to use a longer stitch when going thru the insul-bright and the fabric.

For the top and flap, first sew the top to the flap for the liner. Be sure to pull it away from the other material so you are only sewing the liner material together. Then repeat with the outside/insul-bright. For the top and flap only sew 3 of the 4 sides together. Sorry, forgot a picture here. Leave the short end of the TOP with raw edges. Once sewn, flip that bad boy inside out! I put pins in so you can see where the top affixes to the flap.




Time to create the handle. Take your handle and iron it in half. Then sew a 1/2 seam down the whole piece. Flip the whole thing inside out. I saw this tip (what a time saver!) on another blog but can't remember where? Once sewn push a piece of rope down the whole tube. Sew the rope to one end. If you tug on the rope, it'll flip the piece inside out in a matter of minutes!!




Time to assemble the lunch bag. Inside your outer box, put the top/lid and pin it to one edge. Be sure the right side of the lid is touching the right side of the outer material.




Next layer in your handle. In my picture the handle is backwards. I realized it after I took the picture. When assembled correctly you should see the back of the handle.




Take your liner and flip it. Put the liner inside the other box so right sides match. This is really important or you'll be mad that it's made inside out. From outside to in, the layers should be insul-bright, outer, lid, handle and liner.





Carefully pin everything in place and SEW. No more pinning after this step. Well, not really. Sew around the whole top of the box and then using that hole you left in the liner, flip it around. Now stuff the liner into your lunchbag. Admire your work but you're not quite done yet....




It's time to make the lid really stay shut and you have a hole in your liner. Hand sew velcro to the center of the flap. Just be sure not to go all the way to the outer fabric.




Fold the flap over and mark where the coordinating velcro should be sewn and hand sew that on.



I leave the hole in the liner while I sew on the velco so I can stick my hand inside and make it easier on myself. Your choice! Then pull the liner out and top stitch the hole shut. Now, you are done!



Make one for yourself. Make one for your kids. Heck make one for your friend!



What do you think? I made it so that frozen lunches and storage containers would fit.