Those pretty Mollie Flowers that were crocheted a while back finally have a home, and what a home it is. This sweet little clutch is the finished project they were always destined for, inspired by the Pouf Purse design by April Garwood, featured in an issue of Crochet Today!
The pattern has a wonderfully feminine quality to it, and the Mollie Flower construction turned out to be a perfect fit for the design.
Project Details
- Pattern: Inspired by Pouf Purse by April Garwood, May/June issue of Crochet Today!
- Yarn: Various blush tones and mustard from the stash
- Difficulty: Intermediate
- Skills: Seaming motifs together, sewing a zippered pouch
How It Came Together
1. Making the Mollie Flowers
The flowers were worked up in soft blush toned yarns with a warm mustard yellow for the centers, giving each one that cheerful pop of color that makes the overall palette so appealing. Mollie Flowers are one of those motifs that are genuinely hard to stop making once the rhythm of the pattern sets in. This project is also an excellent way to use up yarn scraps, making it as practical as it is pretty.
2. Seaming the Flowers Together
Joining all the individual flowers into a single cohesive panel took some time, but the process is straightforward. The seaming is done by hand, connecting each flower to its neighbors until the full surface of the clutch takes shape.
3. Sewing the Zippered Pouch
A coordinating polka dot fabric was used to sew a small zippered pouch that would sit inside the crocheted exterior. Inserting a standard zipper was a first for this project, and a video tutorial by I Heart Stitching proved very helpful in getting it right.
For anyone who does not sew, a ready made zippered pouch sized to fit the crocheted panel works just as well. The flowers can simply be joined to cover the dimensions of whatever pouch is used.
4. Assembling the Clutch
The finished zippered pouch was placed inside the crocheted flower panel and secured in place with hand stitching to finish everything off neatly. The original Pouf Purse pattern includes a chain shoulder strap, but leaving it off in favor of a simple clutch silhouette felt like the right call. The result is cleaner and lets the flowers do all the talking.
The Finished Result
The texture that the Mollie Flowers bring to the surface of the clutch is genuinely lovely, and the polka dot lining fabric makes for a fun and unexpected surprise on the inside. The blush and mustard color combination is warm and cohesive without being too matchy, and the whole project has the kind of handmade charm that is very difficult to replicate any other way.
The daisy flower pattern shared recently would make for a beautiful variation on this same concept. A clutch covered in crocheted daisies could be a really fresh and sweet take on the floral motif.