Introducing Simply Susan...

Well, kind of. I volunteered to make a clutch for a charity auction next month. As I was planning the clutch (which I had never made before and didn't have a pattern - why do I do things like this??) I thought it would probably be good to put a label on it so it looks more "professional" ...or something. Maybe I was just getting carried away. Ok, ok I was definitely getting carried away.

Sometime while I was scheming designing the pattern and label, I came up with Simply Susan. Because, while I like things that are cute and charming, I'm not really into giant bows or hot pink ruffles (usually). I like things that are stylish and functional, but simple at the same time. The Susan part is because my name is Susan (duh).

I'm pretty happy with the label considering I have no artistic background or talent and it was created with the ultra professional paintbrush program on my mac (hah!). And now I'll stop stalling and show you the finished product (of which I am oh so proud since it involved lots of new things for me)!

This clutch is a result of looking at Etsy shops, looking at ideas/tutorials on blogs, and what I prefer in a small bag. I've recently started carrying a Very Bradley wristlet and LOVE it! I definitely could not tackle one of those at my skill level, but I tried to incorporate some of the conveniences into this. Plus this is a little bigger so you can fit more than just your phone and id/credit card (meaning, your lips don't have to suffer since your chapstick is at home and your husband isn't disappointed when you say you don't have any kleenex or a pen with you...again).

I went for snap instead of zipper because if you only have one hand free a magnetic snap is much easier. Don't worry though, your precious chapstick won't fall out because there's also a zipper pocket inside! (Also, I may be slightly addicted to Softlips.)

I was so scared of trying a zipper. The snap was surprisingly easy, but the zipper was more challenging. Would you laugh at me if I told you I was actually shaking a little bit during the zipper part because I was nervous? Maybe you wouldn't if you knew I had to Google what the zipper foot for my sewing machine looks like. Or that I looked up several zipper tutorials while trying to figure it out.

For those of you that are still scared of the zipper, don't be so afraid that you skip a project you're in love with. I tackled it and I'm no professional. I may come up with a tutorial for the zipper soon with lots o' pictures and easy easy instructions for other people like me. : ) Then maybe it won't be so scary for other people because I do think the zipper pocket takes this up a notch.

There are also two slots for an id or credit card. That little white patch is the label. I had some iron on transfer paper leftover from making a shirt in college 3 years ago, I knew there was a reason to hang onto that stuff!

Another important feature for me was that the inside was big enough for a phone to fit vertically or horizontally. I'm not sure how I got stuck on that necessity, but it is big enough for my phone and/or an iphone (I used my ipod touch to test it out) to fit in both directions. I may try to add a strap that you can tuck inside or have on the outside next time. And just to give you an idea of the size...

Anyway, I hope you like it! And more importantly, I hope other people like it so they'll bid on it! (Sorry for the marathon blog post, there were so many things I wanted to mention I had a hard time cutting things out! Thank you, thank you for sticking with me if you got this far!) I'd love to hear what you think so I can continue to improve the design!