Fabric Bag Tutorial

 I promised you a tutorial on how you can make this adorable fabric bag, so here it is!  I use mine to hold my hand-made greeting cards.  Another great idea is to use this bag to give a gift of cards along with envelopes.

You will need the following to make this bag:

• Bigz Clear large Scallop Square die, Fun Flowers die
  
• a few pieces of fabric
• some heavy duty interfacing or fleece to make the sides and base sturdy
• Sewing maching, thread & pins
  
• Wide ribbon
  
• On Board Chipboard, glue stick, buttons and Baker's Twine
  

I used the same fabric for both long sides and a different pattern for the short (square) sides.  And one last pattern for the bottom or base of the bag. Of course this could all be changed easily.   

• Cut four pieces of fabric into 5 1/2 X 7 1/2" rectangles.  These are for the two long sides.
• Cut 4 pieces of fabric into 5 1/2" X 5 1/2" squares.  These are for both short ends.
• Cut two other pieces of fabric into 5 1/2 X 7 1/2" rectangles for the bottom.
• Cut three pieces of heavy duty interfacing or fleece measuring 3 3/4" X 6" for the sides and bottom.
• Cut two pieces of heavy duty interfacing or fleece measuring 3 3/4" square for the ends. 

Fold the long pieces of fabric for the sides in half and place the fold inside the die-cut area and the cut ends on the outside.  This way you will get a rectangle of cut and scalloped fabric instead of just a square. 

You can cut many layers of cotton based fabric at a time with your Big Shot - up to eight.  Some people use an extra shim of card stock on top their acrylic plate for better cutting results.  You can see the end result with this fold & cut technique below.  

Of course you would cut the square side pieces normally by placing your 5 1/2" squares of fabric directly onto the Scallop Square die and die-cutting it. 

Next is a step I did not take a photo of.  You will lay one layer of your heavy duty interfacing (or fleece) between each of the pieces of fabric.  Remember that the interfacing is hidden between two layers of fabric for stability. I did not pre-sew my interfacing to my fabric as I did not want double stitching to show. **If you use iron-on interfacing you won't need to worry about this.  I pinned the pieces together as I sewed them making sure to catch the interfacing when I stitched. 

Before I sewed all of the pieces together I stitched my ribbon between the long sides of my scalloped rectangles as seen below.  This hides the ribbon ends.

Next I sewed the bottom to the two long sides. 

Then you will pin the square sides to the outer edges of the two sides and base as seen below.  Stitch closed. 

Remove pins from that side and repeat on the other side.  That's it; you're done with the bag!

Here is a view of the inside of my bag.  You can see a bit of my white interfacing between the fabric layers in this photo.

If you like the worn or distressed look, you can make small cuts between each scallop and then wash it.  This helps the outside seams get that fuzzy look.

If you want to add the flower adornment, cut out a few pieces of fabric and glued them onto two squares of our On Board Chipboard with glue stick.  You could use any chipboard for this, but ours is nice and thick.  I love using glue stick with chipboard - it holds the edges down very well.

Now you can cut out your flowers using the Fun Flowers die.  Glue them together using either Tombo multipurpose glue or glue dots.  I added a few buttons and some Bakers Twine and adhered them with glue dots.  Attach the flowers to your bag with either hot glue, large glue dots or Sticky Strip. 

Hope you enjoy making your own!

Comments

[Jackie Bultje]

Thanks for the tutorial, looking forward to making this cute bag.

[MaryJo Marshall]

Thank you for sharing the tutorial for the bag! plan to make one this week!!

[Dana N]

I love this! I made a fabric square box like this for my scrapbooking tools (with pockets on each outside piece). I never thought of folding the fabric to get a bigger piece though. Will definitely be trying this!

[Chellie B]

LeeAnn, this is super-cute! I am new to SU fabric and new to sewing, but I think I can do this. Thank you for such wonderfully clear instructions, and for being so generous in sharing.

[liz]

Thank you for the tutorial, wonder if I have enough fabric to try it x

[Erika Clark]

THANK YOU for the how-to! This is adorable and I love SU fabric so much. I'm making this one morning this week, just 'cause :)