Two Glenda Clutches

I made one Glenda Clutch last month in green and another one this month in turquoise. This is a pdf pattern by Swoon Patterns. I love having a large flap on a bag to get creative with decorative machine stitches or applique or both. I machine stitched decorative stitches on both of these flaps and I am really pleased with how they turned out.

I learned some things making the 1st Glenda. One is I will never use fusible Peltex again! (Pellon makes this heavy weight interfacing) Argh! That was hard to deal with on the body of the bag and it tends to make the fabric look more wrinkled too. I had the double-sided fusible Peltex on hand, so I used it, but using the sew-in non-fusible Peltex is much easier to work with and it's not as stiff. Not only that the non-fusible is cheaper too, since it doesn't have the glue on it. I didn't like the body of the bag being so stiff anyway, so with the 2nd Glenda, I used a foam stabilizer (Soft and Stable byAnnie, In R Form by Bosal or Flex Foam by Pellon are a few brands), although I did use Peltex on the flap only.

I made some other changes that I will describe as you view each photo.

I stitched decorative stitches on the flap using different thread colors and some variegated threads too.

As you can see the lining on the flap looks wrinkled from using the fusible Peltex.

Inside is a divided zipper pocket that is stiff from using the Peltex. Since this bag is a medium size, I really didn't quite get the reason to divide such a small space inside. In the 2nd Glenda I did not add this divider pocket. I like it so much better, for myself anyway, not to have a divided pocket.

On the Swoon Facebook Group, I saw that someone had added some credit card pockets in her Glenda and I liked that idea, so I added some credit card pockets behind the divided pocket. I should have added a cash pocket behind the credit card pockets, and I did do that on the 2nd Glenda.

The back of Glenda. I used a green fabric that went from a light to a darker green, so while I didn't notice the green difference while working on it, I can see the green is darker on the right side of the bag. This is the way the fabric was dyed.

Glenda Clutch #2 I made with a turquoise hand dyed fabric that I dyed myself.

Machine decorative stitches, plus French knots done by hand and some added buttons too.

Instead of the divider pocket inside this bag, I sewed strap tabs where I would have sewn the sides of the divider pocket. Again someone on the Facebook group did this I thought it was a great idea! I used the foam stabilizer for the body of the bag and I wanted the sides of the bag to have more than the Shape Flex interfacing, so I added fusible fleece to the sides to give it more body. I didn't like how the green one looked on the sides with just interfacing and the stiff Peltex on the body. I didn't even take a picture of the green Glenda sides, lol!

Pretty lining fabric.

While I cannot fit a wallet in this bag if I carry my both my sunglasses and reading glasses, so I added credit card and cash pockets in place of a wallet. No dividing pocket here.

I added a slip pocket with a pen pocket on one side of the bag.

I dyed this turquoise fabric.

One thing when I was figuring out the cash and credit card pockets, I forgot that the bottom curves and when it all got together the bottom credit card pockets are now curving into the bottom of the bag! So my bottom card pockets are sitting on the bag bottom and the cards fit, but not how they should on those 2 bottom pockets. I didn't think this through and tried to figure it out myself. I have since found out that someone did a video tutorial on how to add credit card pockets to the Glenda. So I must make a 3rd Glenda and improve on all my mistakes. I also added a small zippered pocket.

All in all I love this bag. I love the size and the shape of it and that I can get artsy with the flap. It can become a clutch of you remove the shoulder strap, but I would never carry a clutch, especially a large clutch like this under my arm or even with a wrist strap it would be too large. But as a shoulder bag it is great!
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