Toiletries bag tutorial

Finally I've got myself organised and here's the tutorial I promised you for the little red bag that I made for my Mum for Christmas. She loved it by the way, and I ended up making a couple more, the one in the tut' I gave to my SIL Cheryl and I did another for my gorgeous DIL to be, Alicia - both for Christmas gifts :o) ... happy to say, they loved them too. I filled Mum's with lots of nail care goodies and for my SIL and DIL to be I put in soaps etc. They would also be great as a make up bag .... sewing project bag ... you could even make one in blokey type fabrics for your favourite fella to use as a shaving kit!!

So, here's the instructions with loads of piccies to hopefully make it easier for you ..... any questions - (or if you find I've made a boo boo!!!) just email me - joy@joypatch.com and I'll do my best to help you out :o).

Firstly, you will need:-

30cm (12") zipper

Iron on pellon - One piece - 10 1/2" x 15" and two pieces - 3" x 5 1/2"

Fabric A - 4 strips 11" x 1 1/2" (to go on the zipper); 3 strips 15" x 2 1/2" (bag outer); 2 strips 5 1/2" x 1 3/4" (bag outer sides)

Fabric B - 2 strips 15" x 2 1/2" (bag outer); 2 strips 5 1/2" x 1 3/4" (bag outer sides).

Lining - 2 pieces 3" x 5 1/2" (sides); 1 piece 10 1/2" x 15".

Binding - approx 72" x 2"

All seam allowances are 1/4" unless otherwise stated.

Sew the 5 strips for the bag outer together and press all the seams in the same direction.

Do the same with the shorter strips for the sides of the bag. Press.Iron the pellon to the back of the bag outer then lay this piece onto the wrong side of the lining piece and pin the layers ready for quilting.Do the same with the smaller side pieces.Using a walking foot, quilt all three pieces "in the ditch".Press the binding strip in half lengthways, wrong sides together.Cut 2 pieces from this strip 3" long and sew to the front of the side pieces, raw edges together.Flip the folded edge over to the back of the piece and hand-stitch the binding down with a blind stitch. Match your thread to the binding. Do this with both side pieces.Mark the centre of the long side of the main bag piece with a pin. Match the centre of the side piece and pin in place.Pin the side pieces to the bag outer so that the sides are now set in. You will notice the sides pieces are slightly shorter than the bag outer. That is correct.Pin the binding in place, raw edges together on the sides of the bag and sew in place.Mitre the corners as you sew on the binding.Flip the folded edge of the binding over the raw edges and hand stitch it down.Your bag should look pretty much like this by now .... next we'll put in the zipper ... don't worry it's easy, not scary at all :o)!!!Change your sewing machine foot to a zipper foot.Open the zipper. Pin 2 of the remaining strips to the zipper as shown above,sew them on with a 1/4" seam allowance.Fold the strips back and press. Sew the strips to the other side of the zip in the same way and press. Close the zipper.

Pin the zipper piece to the top of the bag, raw edges together. You will have about 1" overhang at each end.

Almost done now :o) ...........Trim the bottom end of the zipper so that you have a nice straight edge to sew the binding onto.Sew the binding on, raw edges together, as shown in the pic above. Mitre the corners as you go around the bottom of the zipper.Sew it around both sides and the bottom end of the zipper, leave the top end of the zipper open. Flip the folded edge over the raw edges and stitch the binding down using a blind stitch.Cut a 6 1/2" strip from the leftover binding and fold the top edge over 1/4" and press.then fold this piece in half, right sides together and sew along the one side and across the top. Trim off the top 2 corner pieces, turn inside out and press. Undo the zipper a little bit and slip the little sleeve over the open ends of the zipper. Pin in place and stitch on. Your little toiletries bag is now complete!!!!

I'd really love to see any of these little bags that you might make so please send me a link if you post a piccy on your blog, I can then post a list of links on my sidebar so that others can see what you've made too :o). Please feel free to pass the link to this tutorial on to your friends too.

I'm looking forward to seeing your handiwork!!!

Hugs,

Joy :o)