New Dreams for Old Seams: #70: Cat Clutch

Summer is here! I've got lots of new projects to post, but haven't had much time to post them, but that changes starting with today's post!

A while back I was reading my favorite upcycling blog www.NewDressADay.com, where the fabulous Marisa Lynch made a copycat Charlotte Olympia Kitty Clutch, which originally sells online for $995 (for that much, I sure hope that's real gold and diamonds!).

Charlotte Olympia Kitty Clutch

Marisa upcycled an old black clutch to capture the essence of the original cat purse. This is how hers turned out:

Marisa's version

When I found this shiny red clutch at the thrift store for $2, I was inspured to re-make the re-make!

I started by cutting out cardboard outlines of the eye shapes and tracing it with a pen on the flat side of the purse.

Cardboard eye

Outlined Cat Eyes

Then I outlined the rest of the cat face free-hand.

Cat face

I then took fabric matte paint and outlined the cat face.

Outlined cat face

I did not have any thin oval-shaped gems, so instead I used gems I had in my collection and slanted them to give it more character. I glued them on with fabric glue.

Eye gems

In order to make the ears, I cut out ear shapes from a red foam sheet.

Cut out foam ears

Then I painted them a brighter red to match the purse.

Painting, painting, painting

RED!

After painting it multiple times and letting it dry, I cut a small slit in the bottom, and folded the sides in opposite directions.

Cut

Fold oppositely

Then I used a strong glue to glue the folded parts to the top of the purse.

Supplies

Glued on each side

And that was that!

Here again is the original purse and my original piece:

$995 Charlotte Olympia Kitty Clutch

Before: $2 Thrifted Clutch

And here is how it turned out after!

After: Re-re-transformed cat clutch

After: Cat clutch

My husband and I took my mother-in-law out for her birthday to the Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum, Hollywood Wax Museum, and Guinness World Records Museum in Hollywood, and I decided to bring along my cat clutch and got some pretty awesome celebrities to show off my purse! Strung through with a turquoise necklace as a strap, check it out!