Bunny Clutches--embroidery design review

Hi All!

Whew! It's been a busy week! Sorry it has been so long since my last post. (Better than two years, though! LOL)

Had a busy weekend of sewing, too!

You know you're up for some serious productivity when you have both your sewing machines going at the same time. I needed to do some machine embroidery, but I also needed to be able to just sew...so, I had both machines set up in my tiny space.

I was working on these little cuties. I made these little bunnies in the hoop. Super fun and cute.

Here are two of the finished bunny purses. These are both made with some Lori Holt fabric. It sure seemed perfect for this project. I made one with some fun fuzzy fabric...but it was kind of a pain to work with. So, I tried another with some white fleece.

Here is the back of the purse. Complete with tail and all.

They are even lined. The embroidery design is pretty clever, the way almost all of this project is done in the hoop. The tops of the bunny heads are satin stitched, so they slide right into the groove of the clasp pretty easily.

They kept multiplying! Haha. I ended up making six, because that's how many little clasps I had. I'm pretty sure I can find some little girls to adopt them.

They are the perfect size for a little bag of candy.

I think these two, with the Aneela Hooey fabrics are my favorite. I think the purple fuzzy one is my absolute favorite.

The embroidery design is called Bunnie Clutch and is from Smartneedle. Smartneedle also has some really cute clutches with different animals, like fish (so cute!), and other animal purses. They also sell the purse frames.

Here are a few thoughts/tips/evaluative comments I have on the embroidery design.

These are totally fun and enjoyable to make.
They are advertised as "completely done in the hoop." This isn't quite true. Before you make the bunnies, you have to sew the fuzzy fabric to the cotton before putting it in the hoop. And you have to hand sew the ears on after you unhoop. And you have to glue the tail on after you unhoop. And of course you have to glue the clasp on. These are minor things you have to do outside the hoop. No biggie. But the project is not ALL done in the hoop.
When using the fuzzy fabric, I had to sew the eyes and mouth at least two times (sometimes three) to cover the fuzzy fabric. I should have put some water-soluble stabilizer over the fuzzy fabric to avoid this. I think the instructions should have advised me to do this. You may want to do that, yourself.
I broke a lot of needles making this project (see below)! I think it was because with two layers of stabilizer on both the front and back, as well as all the layers of fabric--it just dulls the needle fast. I recommend changing your needle after every purse or two. I think I broke a needle on every other clutch.
The instructions recommended hot gluing the top of the clutch into the clasp. This didn't work for me. The glue hardened before I got the fabric in the slot of the clutch. I tried other glues. I tried Fabri-Tak. That worked pretty good. I find this glue to be awesome when it's new. However, it get's really thick and stringy after it has been open for a while. My bottle was older, so it was very thick and stringy. Hard to work with in that little groove of the clutch. I also tried another fabric glue that was runnier. I think it was Fabric Fusion. I hated that for this project because it was too runny. I advise against a runny glue. It just absorbed into the fabric. My favorite glue was this Gutermann HT2 Textile Glue. It held well and was easiest to work with. I think it's sort of hard to find, but it's good glue. I read about it somewhere an had to try it. I agree with others that it is the glue to use for little purses/clutches like this.

These were a ton of fun to make, and I know at least one little 11-year-old who really likes them. I hope the other little girls like them, too!

Have a good weekend, everyone! If I'm not back before then, HAPPY EASTER!

Bye for now!

Mama Pea

Stephanie

*Disclosures: I purchased these designs and all the supplies with my own money. I have no affiliation with Smartneedle or any of these glue companies.