Sentimental Stitches

I'm sorry it took me until Tuesday to get back to this tutorial but I had a feeling that would happen. I'm pretty sure you were able to finish your bag following the instructions in the pattern but I'm going to add a few more steps here just in case.

Turn the outer bag right side out.




Find the center point of the four triangles on top edge of bag.




Mark the center point with a pin on each triangle.




Center the ends of the straps, right sides together, on top of marked center points on triangles. Pin in place securely.




Baste in place 3/8" from raw edge.




Put outer bag (with right side out) inside the lining (which is wrong side out).




Pin around the top edge matching side seams on lining with intersecting seams of triangles on outer bag.

Sew around the top of the bag 1/2" from raw edge. I usually double stitch this seam for added strength at the handles.

Turn bag right side out through the opening in side seam of lining.

Push lining down inside of outer bag and press the seam.

Topstitch around top edge of bag.

Blind stitch the opening in lining side seam closed.

Enjoy your new So Sew Easy Bag!

There aren't pictures for those last few steps yet. The last couple of seams are pretty easy and it gives me the opportunity to finish one of the first Twists for you. I'm going to add pockets to the inside of the single fabric lining. I'll take some finishing pictures as I sew.

We are getting to the home stretch here. How many of you are laughing at me and saying "You can't make this bag in a couple of hours". Yes, you can make the bag in a couple of hours but let me tell you, you can't write a tutorial that fast. Dang - it's taken me a lot longer than I anticipated but I'm determined to finish up these last two segments today. I have to drive back to Grand Rapids to help out at the boutique Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I'm sure you don't want to wait until Tuesday for the rest of the story.

We have the outside of the bag together. Isn't it awesome? We've made two beautiful handles and we need some lining for this baby.

You can press all those seams on the outside of your bag now. If you carefully rotate it around the narrow end of your ironing board you'll be able to get to them all. I like to press the twisted seams in the direction making the point where the stitching lines cross each other at the top edge visible. That's the 1/2" seam allowance which will join the bag to the lining and I don't want to cut off the points on my squares as I stitch around the top.




We'll be working with the two squares you cut for your single fabric lining. As you can see, the selvage is still on my squares. Many fabrics today don't give you a full 45" width. Unless your selvage is exceptionally wide it will work just fine. The selvage is hidden when we sew the lining pieces together. I guess I'd rather have a smidgen of selvage showing rather than buy an extra 5/8 yard of fabric.

With right sides together, using a 1/2" seam allowance, sew around three sides of the lining squares leaving a 5" opening on one side. Clip lower corners diagonally. Press seams open. I realize my lining looks slightly different than yours. I don't usually add batting or interfacing the these bags. I like to be able to fold them up and tuck them in my purse but I wanted this one to have some extra body so I added fusible interfacing to the lining.

To shape the bottom of the bag, with right sides together, bring one side seam of the lining to the bottom seam. It's important to match the seam lines and pin in place.

Measure from the point 7 3/8" along the folds and mark a dot on each side.

Draw a line from dot to dot across the corner. Pin the two layers together to keep them from shifting. Stitch on the line, backstitching at the beginning and end of the seam. Repeat for opposite side of lining.




Press the corner points toward each other and tack to the bottom seam. If you are using heavyweight fabric, trim off the points 1/2" from seam line to reduce bulk. If you do want the extra body, they can be tacked to the bottom seam too. In this case I'm tacking mine.