Mix & Match Clutch Bag Techniques

Please note, all contest links have been disabled as the contest is now over.

Hello again!

We’ve just barely made it home after our Craftsy escapade all across Canada. We’re unpacking our luggage and finding some great souvenirs from the trip, but it’s just too much to keep for ourselves. And because you’ve been such perfect road trip companions, we’d like to share them with you. Up for grabs are 4 coveted prize packs from our travels, as well as the special gift that Craftsy sent to us while we were gone gallivanting.

* This post contains affiliate links. If you visit one of those pages via my link, I may receive a small commission from the seller, at no additional cost to you.

12795131_10153307342291949_7066404965296167236_o

First up is the Craftsy gift:

* Please note: If you entered this giveaway before Friday, April 8, your entry may not have been recorded correctly by Craftsy. Please enter again. This colourful tote bag kit includes the Rowan Three-Quarter Patch Tote pattern, some stunning Kaffe Fassett fabric, plus all the Pellon Fusible Fleece stabilizer you will need for the project. The only things you would have to add to this are a coordinating button, some thread and your time. Voila! You have a gorgeous tote that will be the envy of tote-al strangers. It’s almost like instant Jello pudding, only better! Follow this link to enter before midnight April 11, 2016:

The Souvenir Prizes

Prize A (Canadian, US and International entries accepted)

1 Craftsy Class: “Mix & Match: Clutch Bag Techniques” by Janelle MacKay of Emmaline Bags

Prize B (Open to Canadian residents only)

$32 CAD store voucher for Tangled Blossoms Design (Redeemable in fabric and S&H)
The Manhattan Bag PDF Pattern
The Manhattan Mama Hardware Kit

Manhattan mamma hardware kit in nickel finish

Prize C (Open to Canadian residents only)

Prize D (Canadian, US and International entries accepted)

1 PDF Purse Pattern (winner’s choice) from Blue Calla Sewing Patterns

(You choose the pattern!)

Giveaway Rules:

Prizes are awarded “as is”. No substitutions.
Deadline for entries is 10 AM PST on Monday, April 11.
Winner’s will be notified by email within 3 hours of the contest closing, and will then have 24 hours in which to respond to the organizers.
It is each participant’s responsibility to ensure they sign in to Rafflecopter with a valid email address, and also check their email accounts for notification.
Entries requiring a blog post comment, social media follow, or trivia answer will be verified using the name provided by the participant.
The giveaway is open to anyone worldwide. International or US residents who win a prize designated as for Canadian Residents Only may be required to pay for the additional shipping, or forfeit the prize. If said winner chooses to forfeit the prize, another winner will be chosen from the remaining eligible entries.

Many, many thanks to all the wonderful people who’ve followed us on The Great Canadian Craftsy Bag Tour. We hope you learned a little about our very large, diverse and beautiful country while you got a peek into some of our favourite Craftsy classes.

And very special thanks to the amazing, supportive people who helped make the giveaway and our graphics just that much better: Celine from Blue Calla Patterns and Elle from Brand UR Shop Graphic Design. Take a bow ladies! Prize Sponsors

Happy travels until the next time we take you tripping and traipsing!

Marsha, Janelle, Deb, Fiona, Michelle, Reece, Shelaine & Ula

Please note, all contest links have been disabled as the contest is now over.

Craftsy 1200x627_social

Welcome to my stop on The Great Canadian Craftsy Bag Tour! Our tour is made up of Canadian Bloggers, hence the name The Great Canadian… Only in Canada you say? Pity! Well, no, not really. We’re all in Canada, but you can join the tour from anywhere in the world! Sit back and enjoy – no tariffs, no shipping costs, no exchange rates. (Oh, Canadians know about exchange rates!)

Making handbags is something I’d wanted to do for a long time. After hearing of Craftsy, and signing up for my first class with them, I was hooked. I think my first class was Fab Felt Holiday Crafts with Betz White (you’ll see more of Betz on this tour), followed quickly by Design Your Own Handbag with Brett Bara. Brett’s class was the first of many handbag classes I’ve taken on Craftsy. With Craftsy, I’ve found a great learning platform, and I keep going back for more. I love that the classes I purchase are there for me anytime I want to access them, and never expire.

This year I became an Affiliate with Craftsy. On the right side of my blog, you’ll see some links to a few of my favorite classes, including the class I’m reviewing here (which Craftsy very graciously gave me to review for this tour). This list is by no means an exhaustive list, but just a few favorites. I can recommend these classes with confidence as I’ve taken them.

For my part in The Great Canadian Blog Tour, I’m reviewing Janelle MacKay’s class Mix & Match Clutch Bag Techniques.

Janelle is a wonderful instructor. She’s very thorough, but without that rushed feeling we can get from having too much information thrown at us. She calmly takes us through each step, all the while giving us so many details of what we need to do, and options to change things up.

Janelle is composed in front of the camera. She definitely knows her material. Her knowledge and warmth come through on the question board too. She’s interacting with participants, telling them she loves the material they’ve chosen, encouraging when someone posts a question and figures out the answer on their own.

The class was a good pace for me. I’m not an overly experienced bag-maker, and I felt very comfortable with the pace of Janelle’s class.

Craftsy rates this class for an Intermediate skill level, and I would agree with that. There are some techniques that aren’t hard, but have a lot of steps that might be a challenge to a beginner sewist. I have read lots of comments on forums where people said how much they learned taking this class, and all the new tips they didn’t know before. There are tips in the class that can be used in any sewing. I loved how Janelle showed us how to deal with thread ends, and how she attached zippers. Both of these, and many more of the tips she shares can be transferred to non-bag-making sewing projects too.

The only difficulty I had with the class was having to draw out some of the pattern pieces. I need all the pattern pieces – even the ones that are simply a rectangle with the measurements given. I have some trouble with numbers. So for me, to have to draw out a rectangle piece… well, it’s a challenge. I have to look at the numbers, check them again, and then again to make sure I have them right in my head. Then a few more times because they can easily get mixed up in my head. It took me three tries to get those simple rectangles. I’m not talking just getting the numbers right, I’m talking drawing out those pieces. (Sigh) Now to be fair, I’ve read many comments on some of those same forums where others have said they hate to see something so simple included in patterns. For me, this is not so simple. I did get it done, and now going forward, I have all my pattern pieces cut out and labeled so I won’t have the same trouble.

Reece, of Happy Okapi, just reviewed the class Sew Sturdy Travel Organizers. One of the comments from Reece was there were no pattern pieces included with that class. Right away, I know it won’t be a class I want to take. Drawing out all the pieces would put me off before I started.

Back to things I love about this class. Here’s my clutch bag:

purse on cutting board

Oh, pretty, pretty. The inside of the bag is as beautiful as the outside. There’s a card slot that holds three cards, and a deeper pocket behind it. There’s a lipstick holder. There’s also a beautifully finished zippered pocket.

inside empty

Here’s the inside with a few basics in it. Sunglasses, keys, a few credit cards, lipstick. The red card is in sideways to show the deeper pocket behind the card slots. I didn’t even need to put anything in the zippered pocket. There’s lots of room in this little clutch! Look how pretty the zippered pocket is too. Janelle takes us through all the steps to make a beautiful, professional-looking finish on everything – inside and out. Here’s a confession: I thought the inside of the bag was so pretty, I took photos to send to a few friends before the bag was done. It looked so nice.

inside purse

pocket

Here’s the clutch on my dress form (Catherine) so you can see the size.

purse on Catherine

It’s a beautiful size and shape. For my first clutch, I chose a fairly basic design. If you look at the Craftsy image for Janelle’s class (above), you can see there are a few different options for the front of the bag, and for the flap. The variety offered is very nice.

One more comment on this clutch bag – I followed the Craftsy course alone to make this. I did use the pattern pieces that came with the instructions, but the class is so very thorough, a bag can be made following along with class instruction alone. It’s a really great class. I definitely recommend Mix & Match: Clutch Bag Techniques by Janelle MacKay, and I can’t wait to make another clutch bag.

Thanks for joining me on this stop of The Great Canadian Craftsy Bag Tour. The next stop is: 20 Essential Techniques for Better Bags with Fiona of Tangled Blossoms Design. If you’ve missed any of the reviews or stops along the tour, here’s the full listing of them:

Tour Dates

Monday, April 4

Seam of my Pants — Bag-Making Basics: Reversible Tote & Zipper Pouch with Kristin Link and Learn to Sew: Simple Bags with Nicole Vasbinder

Tuesday, April 5

Sprouting JubeJube — Sew Sturdy: Home Organizers with Annie Unrein

Lulu & Celeste — Sewing With Oilcloth: Bags & Baskets with Kathy McGee

Wednesday, April 6

Happy Okapi — Sew Sturdy Travel Organizers with Annie Unrein

Thursday, April 7

Michelle’s Creations — Mix & Match: Clutch Bag Techniques with Janelle MacKay

Friday, April 8

Shelaine’s Designs — Sew Better Bags: The Weekend Duffel with Betz White

Tangled Blossom Designs — 20 Essential Techniques for Better Bags with Lisa Lam

Saturday, April 9

Emmaline Bags — Recap/Roundup

Sunday, April 10

Sur “prizes“

Our tour has some amazing sponsors! Craftsy. Emmaline Bags. (Emmaline Bags donated the hardware for my gorgeous clutch) Tangled Blossoms Design. Blue Calla. Sprouting Jube Jube. Lulu & Celeste. Happy Okapi. Seam of my Pants. Thanks to all of our sponsors for generously providing prizes for the tour. You’ll have to wait until Sunday, April 10th to find out more about those. So make sure you come back on Sunday to find out what they are and how you can enter for your chance to win!