My Envelope Clutch: a See Kate Sew Challenge!

My sentimental envelope clutch from the See Kate Sew along challenge!

I really enjoy See Kate Sew's blog, so when she posted a pattern for a sew-along envelope clutch I thought NEAT! this will force me out of my comfort zone. ...and it did! I've never followed a pattern before - or made something that wasn't a pillow or child's stuffy. She had a time-frame which didn't work in my favor due to 1. all of us getting the flu and 2. I was really nervous about the button hole! That's fancy business! So I had to think about that for a while before trying it.

If you've been reading my blog for a while you'll know that I am a NICU receiving blanket hoarder. I just can't get rid of the darn things and it's not like we have a lot of space in our apartment. If I can repurpose them then I can justify keeping them. So I've done hankies and most recently rosettes. For this project I wanted to use my favorite blanket as the liner. Yeahhhh. Cut up the precious favorite............scary! The other fabric came from a grab-bag sale at Bobaloo! and it mix-matched with my precious perfectly. I was ready to begin.

Theoretically.

I had the pattern put together and my fabrics picked out. I didn't really have a good interfacing (remember, most everything I work from was either donated or bought cheaply after the fire) so I used what I had which was more like weak webbing. But whatever, I'm still glad for the practice.

I'm really happy with it! There are two flaws that I'll explain but it's a sweet envelope to hold my NICU treasures that are currently floating around in a box - his ox pulse, pictures, leaflets and hopefully a diaper if I can get my hands on one (can you believe I forgot to save something??).

Blink and you'll miss it - squint and yeah, those are TWO button holes. Eh, well.

The other flaw: I did something wonky when sewing around and didn't go up when I guess I should have? I ran over the bottom lip and it left an open pocket so I just stitched it closed. No biggie.

You don't have to squint at all here, but LOOK! I MADE A BUTTON HOLE!

Here it is in its open glory! NICU Envelope Clutch for Preemie Treasures!

I'm looking forward to doing more things like this in the future! It was fun to see what others were doing even if it felt slightly intimidating at times. We all have to start somewhere. But make sure you check the others out - they're SO FUN and full of personality! Inspiring.

On a final note I have to say that Kate was really sweet and encouraging. She doesn't know me at all but when I sent out a couple Tweets having buttonhole meltdowns she sent me encouragement each time! It was really nice...and I totally held my breath each time I ran a practice hole. Which, contrary to what my final project reflects I did practice first!