Burn Baby Burn

I finished the "Fit to be Tied" (renamed Fit to be Flowered) clutch last night, and I love it. The crochet part worked up super fast, but it was the rest of it took a bit longer because I had to make some modifications.

Although the pattern calls for a lining, it doesn’t include any structure, leaving the bag a saggy mess. I purchased a sheet of plastic needlework mesh, which gives structure but still allows for some flexibility, and what a difference it makes. After sewing the lining together, I hand stitched it to the mesh and then sewed the entire piece into the bag.

I then had to figure out something different to do with the ribbon. I didn’t want to just weave it in and tie it off in a bow, I wanted to do something more unique. Since I already had some black organza ribbon in the house, I started to think through ideas for flowers. Years ago, I had a part-time job working at Nordstrom department store in the handbag department. Around the holidays (or whenever gift wrapping was requested) we would put the handbag into a shiny silver box and then tie an organza ribbon around the outside of it. We had a special technique for tying the ribbon so that it looked like a flower. Tried as I might yesterday, I could not figure out how we used to do it and whether or not it was even possible on a much smaller scale. So I abandoned that idea. Then I started researching organza flowers online and came across a couple of sites that suggested slightly singing/scorching the organza over a candle. This worked beautifully.

A Flower is Born

The only recommendation I’d make if you’re trying this at home is to hover the organza about an inch above the flame to start. You can get a little closer but you run the risk of the organza melting too much and quickly. I found that an up and down and side to side motion really gave it a nice effect. I cut four pieces of various lengths and used the smallest for the center of the flower and worked out from there with the larger pieces. After scorching all of the pieces, I ran a running stitch through the bottom of the first piece, cinched it up a bit and rolled it to form the inside of the flower. Without cutting the thread, I did another running stitch through the next larger piece, cinched it up and rolled it to form the next outside round of the flower. At this point I ran the needle across the bottom of both pieces a few times to better join them together. I did these same steps for the next two pieces. Without cutting the thread, I attached it directly to the bag (before attaching the lining).  

Another technique I tried, but gave up on was reinforcing the handles. They’re a bit too stretchy. I had some 24 gauge craft wire laying around (I have no idea why) and ran it through the handles. It worked nicely on one handle, but was a complete disaster on the other one (user error, not the fault of the wire). I may attempt to try this again with a black coated wire—the silver wire I had was visible in some spots. Maybe I’ll make a trip out to Hobby Lobby this weekend and give it another try.

One other modification I made to the bag was adding two magnetic snaps. The pattern originally called for one snap in the middle, but I kept envisioning my cell phone or lipstick or like a tampon falling out in public. Not good. Plus, I find it so hard to undo a new snap sometimes and I always end up with a chipped nail.  The good thing about a magnetic snap is that it closes itself, no worries about leaving it wide open.

I am super happy with the end result.



Cat Tested. Cat Approved.