Anthro Inspired Polka Dot Clutch

In case you haven't noticed, I love drawing inspiration from Anthro. They combine and use fabrics in such imaginative ways. But being the poor teacher that I am, it's not like I can afford to drop $68 on things like this. But I can refashion a forlorn black purse doomed to the bottom of my closet into something chic and fun. 

This isn't a proper tutorial....I realize not everyone an old black purse in the back of their closet that they're willing to sacrifice. I think, however, the leather (or faux leather) could be easily purchased at a fabric store. Just sayin'.

Enter old purse. I don't remember what it originally cost me, but it was 1) definitely from Kohls and 2) definitely on sale. I can't tell if it's real leather or nice faux. It's so old that the leathery smell is very, very faint. 

On the backside (sans pockets) I cut until I had a large rectangle.

This was the nastiness clinging to the backside. Disintegrating padding. Just lovely.

 I decided to put in a lining just to cover up this mess.

Using my stiffest interfacing, I cut and adhered a piece of equal size to the back of the leather.

Now the fun part! With a pencil eraser, Martha Stewart "Grey Wolf" acrylic paint, and mad polka-dotting skills, I spent about 20 minutes coving the leather in dots.

After the paint dried, I cut a piece of coordinating fabric for lining (cut from an old khaki skirt - refashioning ftw!) and pinned the two with right sides together.

Then I sewed around three sides, leaving one edge open for turning...

....and trimmed the corners.

After turning right sides out (probably the part I was most worried about - glad my leather wasn't too stiff!), I folded under the raw edges and hand-stitched together. 

With right sides together again, I folded up the bottom half of the clutch and pinned in place....

....stitching down the edges to complete the pouch.

Though you could do any kind of closure you wanted (and a magnetic one would be way fancier), I wanted to use materials I already had on hand. Forgive my lame basic snaps.

Add two cute buttons for detail and done.

Here is where I realized why the original has rounded edges on the flap - the overhang. Bah. I decided it's kinda cute. Like puppy ears.

I think this baby deserves to be taken out on a date.