Showing posts with label Bag. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bag. Show all posts

10.24.2011

Halloween Bag Mini-Tutorial

So... I was planning on making another trick-or-treating bag so I could show you all how I made them. Turns out, though--I don't feel like making yet another bag. I did have Cory take pictures along the way while I was making a Frankenstein bag for a friend, but I actually made it exactly the same way Jill did here. Which is different from how I made the original bags, so I'm going to just show you the basics of how I made them. They're very, very simple bags, and are actually quite similar to the messenger bags I made a few months ago, so if you have any questions about the actual construction of the bag, you can just look there. Or leave comments or email me or whatever. I'm flexible like that. Just let me know.

And now, a mini-tutorial of sorts.

So this is what we're going for:

A cute little ghosty bag. Yay!

To start, you're going to cut out your pieces. You'll need two ghost shaped pieces, and enough strips of white to go all the way around the edges, and to make a strap the length you want it to come out. Then you'll also need your face pieces--eyes and a mouth for each side on this guy. If you plan to reverse-applique them, like I did, you'll need to make each piece a little bigger than you want it to appear when complete.

Once you have all your pieces cut out, you'll start by sewing the face pieces onto the back side of your ghost faces. When you're finished they should look something like this (keep in mind this is the backside of the ghost):


After the face is all sewn on, it's time to start assembling the bag. Take your strips of white fabric, and cut them to the lengths of the sides of the ghost--one to match the bottom edge, and one for each side, ending up high enough that there's a good-size opening to the bag. Then, like the backpack tutorial, sew them together into one long strip (don't sew the handles on yet though), and then sew them onto the bag. As fleece is very stretchy and shifty, I would highly recommend pinning a LOT, and start with the bottom, as it is the most crucial part to match up--the sides can be trimmed down if they stretch, but the bottom needs to match up fairly well too look nice. Ask me how I know. :) When it's sewed on, it should look something like this:

Next you're going to attach the strap--I'd recommend doubling up the fleece, and topstitching down each side (not shown on this bag) to give it more strength--the fleece, like I said, is just too stretchy--if you get a couple pounds of candy in there, it's going to drag it down. Strength is good with kids. :)

Turn the bag right side out, and cut out the white over your face features. Just pinch the two layers apart, then cut very carefully into it, and trim the excess away, revealing the black underneath. Feel free to play around with how you trim them out--for this side, you can see that I cut basically up to the stitch line.


On this side, however... oh wait, you can't see it. Dang cat. Does anyone else's cat seem to like hanging out in the most inconvenient area? Haha.

No seriously. I couldn't leave this photo out though, haha. The ghost is terrified of the cat! Ahhh!

Ok, enough with my lousy humor (though I am very funny. Seriously, guys. I am). On this side, I didn't trim the eyes all the way out--I trimmed out my initial cut to make the hole, and realized that I was in love with the scared ghost look.


So I left it.

And there you have it. One cute little ghost bag. Yay! If you're doing the pumpkin, you don't have to worry about the bottom of the bag, so it's even easier--just sew one long strip all the way around, stopping where you want to the top of the bag to be. The only tricky thing is making sure the two faces of the pumpkins stay matched up--so don't stretch it at all as you go. And then add the handle in green. Keep 'em lined up. And then, enjoy watching your kids fill those new bags with goodies.... that hey, you can sneak later, right? :)

10.05.2011

Trick-Or-Treat Bags

So I was recently commissioned to make some trick-or-treat bags for our upcoming Super Saturday (where the women in our church get together on a saturday to create all kinds of fun craftiness). These are not fantastic, but they're what I came up with:


You can expect a tutorial soon, as I'll be making instruction pages for the women who will be taking the supplies home to make them there. A very few details about the bags--they're made of fleece (which allows for unfinished edges without unravelling)(I'm still debating the necessity of lining them with something slightly less stretchy, but at least fleece will stretch, and then return back to regular shape, unlike felt), and the little details I sewed on for faces are all reverse-appliqued. Way easier than it sounds.

Anyone wanna make some trick-or-treat bags? When I was a kid, we just used pillowcases... everything's so fancy these days! :)

9.30.2011

My New Bag

So I've been using the same bag since my birthday in 2008, and finally this summer, I decided to make myself a new one. After hemming and hawing over fabrics and styles for a few months, I found some fabric I loved, and just decided to go for an image I had in my mind. I'm sure there are a million bags like it out there in the world that probably influenced my thinking, but this one came purely out of my own head, my own measurements based on what I wanted the bag to hold, and my own way of assembling it. I really, really love how it came out.


The piping detail


the interior fabric is kind of what prompted the whole thing--it's a dusty coralish color, and I LOVE it in real life. Pretty here in a picture, but 10 times better in real life.

During the process, there were several moments when I questioned myself (most especially when I was trying to turn the straps, made of 3 pieces of corduroy for durability, plus the piping on the edges, which was where the real trouble was...), but seriously, now that it's done, I just love this bag. When I make this style of bag again (notice the when, not if...) I'll put a pocket inside, but in the meantime, I'm just enjoying the simple beauty of this bag.



I made this bag back in July at a RS craft night, but I'm finally posting about it now because I've decided, last minute, to enter it into the Purse Week competition over at A Lemon Squeezy Home. I don't expect to win, but I do love my bag, so I'm happy to show it off a little bit. :) Wish me luck!

PS. I'm also linking up to AmyLouWho's Sew and Tell for fun. I'm so glad she's back!

8.11.2011

Backpacks! With a Tutorial!

So we've been thinking a lot about school over here lately. Less than 2 weeks until Kindergarten, and preschool just a couple weeks after that. So of course, new backpacks are in order. I asked Breanne and Janey what kind of bags they'd like, and showed them a few different ones, and they chose messenger bags. And because I'm crazy, and found super cute fabric that the girls loved, we decided to make them.

Cute, right? Perhaps minus the part where they're almost as big as the girls themselves, but I swear they're barely bigger than 10x12, to accommodate papers and binders and such. Maybe the messenger style wasn't a great idea for such small kids, but they love them, so we're keeping them.

Want to make your own? Because I was making two, I decided to just go ahead and take some pictures along the way, and I am now prepared to give my very first tutorial! I know this is nothing super exciting, and that there are plenty of messenger bag tutorials out there, but as a few people have told me--if I'm going to do tutorials, I have to start somewhere. So this is it. :)

Here we go.

For these bags, you need:

Main fabric, lining and batting EACH need:
3 pieces cut to 11"x14"**
2 pieces cut to 14"x3.5"
1 piece cut to 11"x3.5
1 piece cut to 4"x6" (if you want a pocket; you don't have to do the batting for this piece)

Whichever fabric you want your strap to be:
2 pieces cut to your strap length, mine varied by child. Janey's was around 12", Breanne's was 16" long, both 3.5" wide

Webbing:
1 piece cut to 12"
2 pieces cut to 4"
Melt the ends on all the webbing pieces so they won't fray.

1 package piping (optional)

and a clip thing to allow you to cinch up your straps, which should look like these:


**This allows you to create the flap with the lining on one side, the main fabric on the other. If you want the flap to be all one fabric, cut 4 pieces of that fabric, and 2 of the other.

Ok, so now that you have all your fabric cut out and in front of you, we'll start by making your pocket. I wanted piping on mine, so first I pinned my piping on and sewed it down (good tutorial for piping here),

then put my other piece on top, right sides together, and sewed nearly all the way around them, leaving a hole to turn the pocket right-side out. Flip it right side out, and your pocket is pretty much done! You may want to topstitch the top of the pocket (right below the piping), but I didn't think to do this beforehand, so mine is not topstitched.

To figure out where I wanted my pocket, I placed it on my main fabric, and put a pencil on it to see where the pencil would hit. As long as it isn't too high, you should be fine.

Now you can attach your pocket piece to one of your main fabric pieces by pinning it down, then topstitching around the three edges, and thus closing up your turning-gap.

If you want to section the pocket off into individual pencil pockets, now would be the time to do that, too. I'm not certain my girls will be using the pocket for pencils, so I left that off for now. Also, if you want a closure on the bag (magnetic snap, velcro, whatever), this is also the time to figure out where you want it, and attach that to the body of the bag.

Next we're going to assemble the bag body. To do this, first you'll take your three side/edge pieces, and piece them together. They're the pieces that are 11" and 14" by 3.5". The 11" piece is going on the bottom of the bag, and thus should be in between the two longer pieces. You'll sew them together like this:

Yeah, that's a long strip of fabric. :)

Now comes one of the trickiest parts of sewing the bag together--attaching the bag front and back to the sides. Don't worry, it's not hard, just try to get your pieces lined up right so your corners come out ok. To attach them together, you're going to lay down your main fabric, and then pin, right sides together, your long side strip, all the way around it. I recommend starting in the middle of the bottom piece, and working your way up to the top. It's not a big deal if the top doesn't end up perfectly even, as you can trim it. It is a big deal if there's a hole in the bottom of your bag because they don't match up. :) So when you're done pinning those pieces together, you should have something that looks roughly like this (minus the batting, that comes later but I didn't have a better picture of this step):

Now you can sew along the edges, creating 1/2 the bag. When you come to the corners, sew until you're about 1/4 inch away from the edge, then put down your needle, pick up your presser foot, and turn the bag 90 degrees.


Continue sewing, but make sure to keep all the extra fabric out from under the needle. The 3D-ness of the bag makes this just a little bit tricky, but it's not hard, just go slowly.

Do the same with the other piece of your main fabric--make sure your fabrics are all facing right sides together, and pin and sew along the edges. Yay, you now have a bag shape!

Now is the time to add piping to the top of your bag if you want it. Same as with the pocket--just pin it on along the edge of the fabric, and sew as close to the cording as you can (I hear zipper feet make this way easier, but I only have my one foot... sigh. :)).

Next up, make the lining of your bag. This is pretty much the same as the above steps, minus the pocket (unless you want one inside, too--you can change this up however you want), and with batting added. My recommendation? Pin your batting like crazy. I made the mistake of not pinning one piece, and it was all sorts of wonky when I finished sewing it, even though it was a pretty basic piece to sew. So. Pin all your batting pieces to their corresponding lining piece, like this,

making certain that you're pinning the batting to the *back* of the fabric (unpicking stuff sewn to batting is no fun, if you're wondering... ask me how I know). Then continue and sew the rest of the pieces together like you did the outside. Yay, you have another bag shape!


Next up, the flap. Take your last 11.5"x14" pieces of fabric and batting and stack them up, fabric right sides together, and batting on top. To round your corners out, find a plate or cd or something with the corner shape you're looking for, place it in the corner of your fabric, and either trace it or (if you're lazy like me), just cut around it.

(Haha, Jess, I bet this is TOTALLY what you had in mind for me to do with this giant button... I do have other ideas, just haven't utilized it yet, and didn't have a plate or cd upstairs with me. :))
Again, I wanted piping around the edge, so pin that to the top piece of your fabric, and sew it on, same as before. If you're putting a closure on the bag, put that on the lining side of your fabric now, too. Then you can stack your pieces back up, and sew them together, being careful to sew as close to the piping as you can. Flip it right-side out, and you've got a flap.

Good job!

The last piece to put together is your strap. For this, you take your 3.5" by whatever you decide strips, stack them up, fabrics right-sides together with the batting on top, and fold them in half. Put your webbing over the ends, and taper the fabric, like so:

Just remember to give yourself a quarter of an inch on each side for your seam allowance.

Next up, put your clip-adjuster thingy on one of your 4 inch pieces of webbing, and sew the webbing closed around it, like so:

Sew it on there good and tight.

Now you're ready to sew the strap together. Sandwich your strap with adjuster thingy in between your two pieces of fabric (right-sides together) on one side, and your other 4" strip of webbing on the other side, and place your batting on top, then pin it all together.

Sew along your edges, leaving a gap on one of your long sides to turn it right-side out. Make sure to double back on your webbing pieces, to make sure they're plenty secure. When you're done sewing, you can reach inside and pull the webbing to pull it right-side out. Top stitch around the edges, and your strap is done!

All that's left at this point is assembling and finishing the bag. Wahoo! Start with your lining bag, with the batting on the outside, fabric inside. Place your main fabric bag, right side out, inside your lining bag, like this:

Then pin your strap in on the end that doesn't have the adjuster-thingy. On the opposite side, pin your 12" strap. Then pin your flap in on the side opposite your pocket, and you are ready to sew the bag together!

Start towards the middle of the side without the flap, and work your way (carefully! I broke a needle on this part because some of the seams were too thick for me to go as quickly as I wanted) around the bag, but be sure to leave yourself a good-sized gap to turn your bag through, like so:

Now you can flip that baby right sides out, and push the lining back down inside the bag. Look at that! You've created a lined bag! You just need to pin the opening shut (and any areas you may have missed on accident during the last step, like I did here):

and then you can topstitch the holes closed, and your bag is finished! Connect your 12" strap through your adjuster thingy, and you are good to go.

And there you have it! You've made your own school bag. Who is excited for school?

These two are! And they're one step closer to being ready.

I think their little sister is excited, too. Alone time with mom, what could be better, really?

5.14.2010

New Bag

So I bought a bit of fabric to make a bag for my mom for mother's day. It came out pretty cute, I thought, and I was excited to give it to her. She seemed to like it, so I thought all was good.

Yesterday, I realized I didn't have a gift for bunco last night, and I didn't feel like going to buy anything, so I decided to use my leftover fabric from my mom's bag to make into my gift. Now I just have to apologize to my mom, because this bag came out so much better than hers... Sorry mom! If you want me to make yours better, I totally will.

I've been wanting to participate in amylouwho's Sew and Tell for a while now, but rarely have anything great to post. I'm excited today to actually have something to add. :)

A few pics--


3.23.2010

Who has a diaper bag they love?

Me!! And I made it myself! I'm pretty ridiculously proud of it, sorry. :)


The exterior is corduroy, for two reasons. One, I love corduroy, and two, it's so durable! You're supposed to use a home decor weight fabric of some sort, but most of those are dry clean only, which just doesn't scream diaper bag, to me. So thus, the washer and dryer friendly corduroy. :)

It has an outside pocket for papers and such,



an inside pocket divided into three sections, meant to carry three sippy cups or bottles, or other snacks,



and an inside pocket for my keys, phone, wallet, and whatever else.


I've been wanting a bigger and nicer diaper bag for a while now, but just couldn't find anything I loved, and everything was so expensive! So, I finally got up the nerve to make one myself. I got inspiration from this tutorial, and this tutorial, but ended up making it how I wanted it. I still need to sew on another piece of velcro, but because I broke my sewing machine needle (first time for everything, right?), it will have to wait. But I am excited, and I love it. And, it cost me less than $20! (and one sewing machine needle...) Pretty great. :)