A Little How To for the Many Bags That I have Made

This is one of the simpler bags you can made and I have made it in many sizes.  Below are directions for constructing the bag which you can make the size you want.

1. Assemble the fabric.  You will need enough of 2 fabrics to cut out a front, back, 2 sides and a bottom,  You might want some for additional pockets as well. You will also need some fusible interfacting.  I also cut out two 2 1/2 in x 22 in strips of interfacting and fabric for the handles,  This is pretty consistent for straps no matter the size of the bag.

2.  Decide what size you want the bag. For instance, say one that is 18 in high, 12 inces wide and 4 inches deep.  You would then cut fabric for back and front, then sides and then the bottom,  You need to cut the lining, main fabric and the interfacting the same  size,  I add a alf inch to each dimension so I would cut 19 x 13 inch pieces for the front and back

 19 x  5 inches for the sides and 5 x 13 inch piece for the bottom, 

3. Iron the interfacingt onto the front and back pieces.

4.  Iron the interfacting onto the straps.  Fold the straps in half and fold over the sides so that they are one inch wide  Sew down both sides,  Attach to the main fabric by laying the strap facing the bottom of the bag and sew down.  Fold up so the straps are facing the top and sew around a once inch square.

5.  Place lining fabric on top of the main front and back right sides together making sure straps are not caught along the top.  Sew along the top and then open up,

6.  Do the same for the two side pieces.

7.   Pin the lining/main fabric pieces together so they don't slip, then sew the side pieces to the main pieces leaving a 1/2 inch opening at the bottom,  Pin the bottom on and sew all the way 

to about 1/2 inch from the sides.  Trim all the seams to 1/4 inch.  

8.   On the right side sew about 3/8 of an inch at each seam.  This is so there will be no raw edges in the bag.

At the beginning, you might also decide to add a pocket to the lining or the outside and this should be done at the time you are adding on the straps,

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More Baby Quilts!

I am very happy with how the quilt made using the unusual block turned out.  My version ends up with blocks that are 10 1/2 inches before sewing together.  It is made up of 4 in squares, 4 1/2 squares that I use to make half square triangles, and 5 in squares which I use to made the quarter square triangles.  I will be making more of these as I have lots of squares in ll these sizes.  I showed the basic block in my last blog post,

  

This quilt and the previous one are the same as many others I  have done as I have lots and lots of black and white prints.  The blocks are very simple - made up of 3 in finished 4 patches and 4 3 x 6 finished strips, half dark and half light.  I found out the hard way that you have to be careful to add the strips in exactly the same way each time and I ended up with mirror images in the next batch I was doing!  

This is kind of an "I Spy" which is why I blew it up a bit.  Again, I used many of thpse 5 in charm squares that I  have accunulated.  I try to be really good now about cutting up any leftover backing fabrics into squares.  I do squares with this type of fabric as it generally is highly patterned and not great for strips.  I cut solid substitutes for the most part into strips  This keeps the random scraps to somewhat of a minimum. 

Each of these baby quilts is 40 x 40 are are distributed to the Neo-natal unit at the local hospital,I am also working on some larger quilts which go to various charities,  I contributed 4 quilts to the Hurricane victim out in western North Carolina,  

I have also finished a challege wall hanging for our quilt guild challege -- triangles.  I call my "Somewhat Obtuse" and will post it after it is shown -- it is a secret for now!!