Friday, February 07, 2014

Bridesmaid Bag Tutorial

I am making these for the bridesmaids and my MOB and MIL for my grey and yellow themed wedding coming up in March.  They went together quickly and i think will be useful the day of the wedding!  I bought the yellow leather handles at this Etsy shop but you could also use any material you like grey webbing or even folded fabric handles.  I wanted something like this but for less.  If you decide to go for the original they can be found at Cocsheaven Esty Shop.  




Materials
One bottom piece (denim in this tutorial) 15"X 21"
One inside piece (tan linen in this tutorial) width of fabric x 21" 
One outside piece (gray linen blend in this tutorial) width of fabric by 21" 

One set of handles, 25" long
       I used leather but you could also use webbing or any other material. 

Assembly: 
Press in half the bottom piece wrong sides together.  Press in half the outside piece wrong sides together.  This will set a fold mark in the middle of the pieces that you will line up at the end of this step.  

Fold ½ inch of the long sides of the bottom piece in toward the wrong side.  

      Line up and center the two fold lines of the outside piece and the bottom piece as shown below.  Pin the bottom piece to the outside piece along the folded edge.  

      Stitch ½ inch from the edges to join the bottom to the outside piece.  Stitch a second line very close to the edge of the bottom piece so you end up with two lines of stitching. Figure 3 shows the first line of stitching completed and the second line of stitching in progress.    

Here is an example with three lines of decorative stitching.  Go with whatever look you like just make sure at least one line is close to the edge to tack the bottom piece to the outside piece.  

Fold the bag in half wrong sides together and trim it down to 20 inches wide, you are cutting off any excess so the two pieces are the same width.  


      Fold the bag inside out, placing right sides together.   Press the bag.  Pin the sides and sew a ½ inch seam (yes, ½ not ¼) from the bottom to the top, being careful not to stretch or bunch the fabric.  The next picture shows the bag sewed together after this step.   

      Press the seams open with a hot iron.  This is an important step as it sets you up for less bunching when you add the inside of the bag and anchor the inside and outside together.  


      Turn the outside piece right side out.  Fold the inside piece right sides together as shown below.  Measure the total width of your outside piece.  It will vary slightly based on your seam width.  

        Cut your inside piece down so that it will be ¼ inch smaller than the outside piece once finished.  So if your bag measures 18 ½ inches on the outside cut your inside down to 19 ¼ inches (19 ¼ minus two ½ inch seams is 18 ¼).  With a slightly smaller inside piece you will be more successful in not bunching or pulling the fabric.  Your bag should now look like this:  

      Pin and sew the inside piece from bottom to top with half inch seams.  Press the seams open as you did with the outside piece.  Turn the inside piece right side out and slip the two pieces together.  

      Stuff the inside and the outside together pushing the corners out as best you can.  Next you will sew two rounds of anchor stitching.  One four inches from the blue bottom fabric and one eight inches from the blue bottom fabric at the locations of the pens in the figure below.  Mark the bag with a disappearing fabric marker and then pin along the line for both locations.  Sew the deepest line first followed by the line closer to the top of the bag.  Put at least 10 pins around the bag to hold the fabric.  here is a picture of the first row, pinned and ready to sew, the disappearing fabric marker line is faintly visible.  



      Trim the top of the bag so all layers are the same length, taking off as little as possible.  Press all layers in ¾ of an inch with a hot iron.  Pin the folded top and sew around the outside. 

      Fold the top of the bag in again.  This time it will be close to an inch.  Pin and sew two lines around the top of the bag.  One about ¾ inch from the top and one ¼ from the top.  

      Center the handles 1/3 of the width of the bag, in from the edges.  Use a fabric marker to draw around the desired location of the handle.  Handles in the picture extend  1 ½ inches down the outside of the bag from the top edge.  Shorten your stitch length to 2.0 and stitch through the handles in a box pattern to adhere them to the body of the bag.    Repeat for the second handle making sure they are not twisted as you sew them to the bag.  

        This picture shows only line of stitching at the top, I recommend two lines for added stability.  



I hope you've enjoyed the tutorial.  Enjoy your bag at the beach, the library, at work or the farmers market! Or anywhere you may have travels planned.  If you have comments or questions or design ideas, feel free to email me at mcdevittchristy(at)gmail(dot)com

thanks for sewing!  ~Christy 




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