How To Sew A Knitting Project Bag

Or a jewelry pouch, or an evening bag, or a cute little bag for just about anything.

Supplies:

1/3 yard outer fabric

1/3 yard lining fabric

1.75 yards cording

small piece of plastic canvas

Directions:

1. Out of the outer fabric and lining fabric cut two rectangles 11″x15″ of each fabric. 4 pieces.  If your fabrics are ravell-y (fray easily) you may want to serge or pink the edges.

2. Out of each lower corner cut out a 2.5 inch square.

3. Cut a piece of the lining fabric 8″x11″. This will be a pocket, and if you don’t want a pocket for your tape measure, scissors, knitting needles, cellphone, lipstick etc, just skip the next steps.

4. Fold the long raw edges inside and press. Place on one lining piece  about 1.5 inchesw above the notches and stitch around three edges, leaving the top open. Stitch a few verticle lines to create compartments. I’ve laid a few items on top just to show you what could go in the pocket.

5.  On outer fabric measure two inches down from top and mark a 1″ channel from side to side. This will be where the drawstring will go. Put outer fabric right sides together and sew sides from top to bottom, skipping the 1 inch where the cording will go. Hm. I’ve just realized I didn’t get a pic of that and it is darned confusing. Here is a pic of another bag in progress. You can barely see the pencil lines, but I marked the gap with pins and laid the pencil along the top line.   

6. Press seams open. At the bottom corner, line up the side seam with the bottom seam. Sew accross. 

Do the same with the other side. Now your bag looks little like a luch sack, right?

7. Put the lining pieces right sides together (the pocket will be inside) Sew the sides and bottom, but leave a 3 inch gap above the pocket. This gap will be used to turn the bag out.

8. Put the rectangle of plastic canvas over the wrong side of the lining at the bottom. Sew it down. I used the wide zigzag stitch to sew it just on the sides at the seams. You could also hand sew it.

9. Put the bag inside the lining, right sides together. Sew along the top edge.

10. Turn right sides out by pulling bag through the 3 inch gap in the lining. This is kind of fiddly, but it can be done.  Put the lining inside the bag and make it look all pretty.

11. Stitch close to the top edge. Now make the channel for the cording by stitching two more lines around the top, one above and one below the 1 inch gap at the sides.

12. Cut the cord into two equal length pieces. Start at one channel opening and thread the cord completely around the bag. Tie cord ends together. Thread the other piece of cord completely around the bag at the other opening.

13. Done! It was kind of a pain to figure out, but I think this little pattern can be used for just about anything.  You could change the size to make it wider and shorter, or really tall and narrow like for a wine bottle. You could add more pockets or no pockets, or use some fluffy fabric to make a little bag for your ereader.  What am I using mine for?  It’s holding a crochet project. This is the beginning of a lace weight afghan that I am putting in a raffle basket for Lori Foster’s Annual Reader & Author Get Together along with some books, chocolate and other goodies. It’s not very big yet, but it has 6 months to grow.

If you have any questions on how to make a bag feel free to post. I think I’m a pretty decent romance writer, but I’m not sure how clear my crafting writing is