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How to Make Your Own DIY Valentine’s Clutch

Foil Heat Transfer Vinyl is so much fun to work with because it has a distinct, shiny, foil finish. The extra shimmer from this vinyl is perfect for making a sassy DIY Valentine’s Clutch for a night out with your Valentine. However, there are some tricks to applying it just right. We’ll give you all the tips in this step by step tutorial on how to apply foil Heat Transfer Vinyl on a patent leather clutch. Grab your Silhouette Cameo and follow along!

How to Make Your Own DIY Valentine's Clutch + featured by Top US Craft Blog + The Pretty Life Girls: + image of heart patterned clutch

Supplies needed to make your own Valentine’s Clutch

Silhouette CAMEO 3 or any craft cutting machine
Weeding hook
Red and purple foil heat transfer vinyl
Teflon sheet or thin cloth for pressing
Mini Iron
Patent leather clutch
Scissors

How to Make Your Own DIY Valentine's Clutch + featured by Top US Craft Blog + The Pretty Life Girls: + image of diy clutch supplies

How to make your own Valentine’s Clutch

Step 1: Size and arrange your design in Silhouette Studio. I used a basic heart design, scaling it down to just under an inch high and repeating it. I also typed the OXOX design using the standard fonts in Silhouette Studio. Depending on the size of your clutch, you will want to measure first to determine your desired design size before cutting. Once your design is arranged, be sure to mirror your image by clicking “Object”, then “Mirror”, then “Flip Horizontally”.

How to Make Your Own DIY Valentine's Clutch + featured by Top US Craft Blog + The Pretty Life Girls

Step 2: Load your foil heat transfer vinyl in your Silhouette Cameo, backing side up. Set your cut settings to “Heat Transfer Vinyl, Smooth”, then click “Send to Silhouette” to cut. Repeat steps one and two on a second color if you would like more than one color of vinyl on your clutch.

How to Make Your Own DIY Valentine's Clutch + featured by Top US Craft Blog + The Pretty Life Girls

Step 3: Remove excess foil heat transfer vinyl from your design, using a weeding tool on smaller areas. Use scissors to cut the backing between the OXOX and heart designs and separate them. After cutting I decided I wanted a few less hearts on my clutch, so I used my weeding tool to remove those as well. I also removed the red O’s and the cherry X’s so that I could have a repeating pattern on the OXOX design.

How to Make Your Own DIY Valentine's Clutch + featured by Top US Craft Blog + The Pretty Life Girls

Step 4: Lay your design on the lip of the clutch, sticky side down. Cover with teflon sheet and press the vinyl one piece at a time with a mini iron. (If you do not have a mini iron, a regular iron will also work for this project, but it may be a little awkward to work with depending on the size of the clutch.) My mini iron has three heat settings: High, Medium, and Low. Because foil heat transfer vinyl is a little more fragile than normal heat transfer vinyl, and because patent leather can melt, I started by using the iron set to low heat to test out the materials and worked my way up to medium once I knew the materials could withstand the heat. I also started by ironing the foil heat transfer vinyl in 5-10 second increments to ensure that nothing was melting, repeating until each heart was fully adhered.

Note: I found that on some of the design, going over a second too long might result in a little added texture on the foil. I like the look of a little texture since I think it adds some extra interest, but if you’d like yours perfectly smooth, you may want to do some test ironing on another surface to get your settings how you like them before applying your design to the clutch. Another alternative is to use smooth heat transfer vinyl or flocked heat transfer vinyl.

How to Make Your Own DIY Valentine's Clutch + featured by Top US Craft Blog + The Pretty Life Girls

Step 5: Wait at least 20 seconds for vinyl to cool, then carefully peel off the backing.

How to Make Your Own DIY Valentine's Clutch + featured by Top US Craft Blog + The Pretty Life Girls

That’s it! Now you’re ready to head out with your Valentine with a perfectly stylish and festive clutch! If you love this design, but you aren’t a clutch carrying kind of gal, you could always apply this DIY to a shirt or a tote bag!

How to Make Your Own DIY Valentine's Clutch + featured by Top US Craft Blog + The Pretty Life Girls

How to Make Your Own DIY Valentine's Clutch + featured by Top US Craft Blog + The Pretty Life Girls

How to Make Your Own DIY Valentine's Clutch + featured by Top US Craft Blog + The Pretty Life Girls

How to Make Your Own DIY Valentine's Clutch + featured by Top US Craft Blog + The Pretty Life Girls: + image of heart patterned clutch

Happy crafting!
xo, Liz


Try making these other fun DIY Valentine’s projects!

DIY Valentine’s Sweatshirt

Heart-Stitched Pom Pom Beanie

DIY Easy Heart Tote Bag