BLOG 442

Blog 442

 At Gresford, a couple of weeks ago, I was given two samples from a furnishing fabric book and asked to make a bag from them. Here’s how I did it.

 

 

         

  Furnishing samples

 

First, I took a 4” strip off the top of the two samples for the handles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        Handles

For each handle, I made 1” fold along the length of the fabric and pressed it towards the middle. I pressed a ½” seam allowance along the other raw edge. I then folded this edge over to lie slightly off centre and to cover the other raw edge. I secured it with pins and used a matching thread to sew a central line along the length to complete the handle. 

 

 

 

 

       First fold

 

 

 

 

 

      Second fold

 

 

 

 

 

      Third fold

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Central seam

I placed the remaining large pieces RS together and sewed ½” seam around 3 sides, leaving one edge open for the top of the bag. Because the fabric was fraying, I sewed a small zigzag around the edge.

 

 

 

 

 

      Bag side seams

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

       Zigzagged edges

 

Around the top edge of the bag, I pressed a 1” double seam (fold over 1” and fold over the same again). I measured and pinned the centre point. I then measured 4” on either side of this pin and put in more pins to mark the spot.

 

                               

 

 

 

 

     Top edge

 

 

 

 

       Position of handles

 

 I placed the handles RS down onto the top edge of the bag so that the raw edges were level with the fold. (The edge of the handle was level with the outer pin.) The first line of stitching around the bag top followed the line of the fold underneath and trapped the handles in place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      

 Sewing the top edge

 

The second line of stitching was along the top edge of the bag and it secured the handles in their position.  

 

       Securing the handles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        Secured

 

With the bag WS outwards, the lower seam was flattened and a line drawn 3” from the point at each end. Sewing on this line shaped the base of the bag. The points were then folded towards the seam and sewn in place to tidy the base.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Shaping the base
 

 

Securing the points

 

And, Ta Dah, you have a bag to replace the plastic ones dished out at the supermarket!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   
    One bag