DIY Christian Louboutin-inspired bell clutch

I had to scan this image from the magazine so it's not the greatest quality.

I saw this clutch in the September issue of Harper's Bazaar and couldn't believe how incredibly DIY-able it was. When I finally started thinking about DIY-ing it I couldn't find a picture to be found on the internet. I'm betting since it's a special order piece that there aren't tons of pictures floating around. So for this DIY I'm only going off the image in the magazine.

The DIY is straightforward it's just time consuming, honestly.

Supplies-
small to medium black clutch
gold bells-I ended up using two sizes to add some depth to the piece
thread, needle, and scissors

First I started sewing on the bigger size bells. For my clutch I used the 1.5 inch size and I used about 144 of them, so buy a big bag! To make sure they were securely attached I sewed through the top of the bell a few times to be safe. Instead of piercing through to the inner lining I tried to only sew through the outer fabric, that way the thread is sandwiched between the two.

I just worked all over the clutch up and down until the front was filled with bells. Because the bells hang in their own way there are gonna be some gaps but this isn't a problem because the smaller bells will fill in.

Then I took the smaller size bells, mine were the .375 size, and filled in where there were gaps between the large bells. I don't have a picture of this part because I was working on this at night and I hate having to take pictures at night-time indoors cause they never come out well. You'll be able to see what I mean though in the final pictures. I only used a handful of these so you probably won't need to buy as many of these, a regular sized bag will do. With two different sizes it really gives the clutch some fantastic depth. In my opinion it also makes it look a lot more expensive. Less like a bunch of bells attached to the front and more of a high fashion accessory.

I decided to only do this to the front because it's already pretty heavy from the bells. Putting bells on the other side would make is too heavy to use I think.

 

Voila!

It's seriously one of my new favorite things. It's so quirky and fun, with a simple dress this could make such a statement.

I know you may be wondering if it's loud but honestly it's not. It makes about as much noise as a small set of keys. Because the bells are sewn on so close to each they don't really have space to move around and jingle. The noise is faint and only slightly jingles when you really move the clutch like to re-arrange stuff inside. 

xoxo,
Amanda