Sewtember Day Two - Getting stuff done.

I spent today with my little family and I didn't get much time for sewing, so when it came to bed time for the kidlets I looked in my drawer of unfinished bits and found some cut pieces for a bag from around 9 years ago or more.

Before you check it all out, this is a bag which I put hours into designing so that it would be big enough for whatever and only used 1 pattern piece. I like things to be symmetrical, but I really don't like the idea of a seam along the length of the strap. I also wanted to it to be reversible and comfy, so it has a wide shoulder strap which can be made to the desired length (to hang up near your arm or across your torso diagonally). It's such a quick and easy bag to make too.

Because I was trying to do a quick project tonight I didn't cut out any lining for it, which is ok given that I'd cut the pieces out of curtain fabric. It's quite a sturdy bag. I used some left over bias binding which I made for a Tashi outfit for my nephew recently to cover the raw edges around the top of the bag. It actually worked pretty well and I might use the same process again.

Anyway, here is the bag being made, it's really really quick!

These are the 2 pieces that were in my UFO drawer.

I flipped one over and matched the straight sides. This photo shows the shape of the piece pretty well.

 I stitched along the straight edges.
 Ok, now, see the little curvy triangle in that last pic, well to make the base seam you need to pick up the two curvy bits and match them together. I'm not sure how to explain it better. If you imagine a fold down the middle of the top rectangle-y part all the way down to the top of that curvy triangle, that is where to fold it together.

So, I folded it together and stitched along the curvy base.

 Then I stitched the tops of the strap together but decided to do a french seam which I probably should have done for the whole bag, oh well, next time. Like I was saying, I usually make it with a lining.

Lastly, I added the yellow bias binding all around the raw edges and voila, it was finished. It took all of about an hour...it would have been a little quicker if I had lined it properly, the binding is a bit fiddly.

And there you have it. A quick bag which has helped to empty a teeny bit of my UFO stash.

If you like the look of this bag, I have a couple of nice versions for sale at the moment on my Facebook page. I also sell kits of this style with all the pieces pre-cut. It would make a nice gift for someone in either form. Just comment here or contact me on the Facebook page and let me know if you're interested.

I wonder what project I'll be working on tomorrow.

See you then!