Thursday, January 14, 2016

Fabric Bag with Laura K. Curtis



Author Laura K Curtis is here to show us how to make this easy to sew bag to help celebrate the launch of her new blog, Happy Hearts Reads. She is giving the bag away tomorrow night (Friday)  at the Happy Hearts blog. 

I love bags. Handbags, suitcases, shoulder bags, pencil cases…if you can put something in it, I love it. I am addicted to project bags, as well. I not only use them for my crochet projects, but I also carry makeup in them when I go on vacation, I put little notebooks and pens in them, and I have one project bag that’s big enough to carry a shawl in for those cold rooms at conferences.

Recently, I saw some awesome fabric that I really, really wanted to make a big project bag out of. But I am not a good seamstress. I own a sewing machine, and once upon a time I had dreams of grandeur, but I learned pretty quickly that I’ll never be able to make my own clothes. During that time, I bought a project bag pattern from Jeni Baker, who has a small version of the bag up on her website for free. (You can find the free pattern here.

But then I chickened out. The fabric I wanted was expensive. I would probably screw it up. A friend offered to sew up a project bag for me, but the other night I realized I had almost enough fabric from a funky quilt I once tried to make for a small bag. I decided to go for it even though I had to make mine a tiny bit smaller than hers to accommodate my lack of fabric. And I had to add an interior stripe because I didn’t have enough of the red I wanted to show at the top to line the whole bag.



Jeni’s pattern is definitely beginner-friendly. All the pieces are rectangular, and all the stitching is straight. No curves. These are the dimensions I used, and how I sewed them together: 



Even the gussets on the bottom that give the bag its flat bottom so it will stand up next to you are straight. Neat!




I messed up one of the places where the seams match up (as I said, I am not good at sewing), but it’s inside, so I don’t think it matters. 


From the outside, it’s pretty darned cute! 



Don't forget to check out Happy Hearts Reads for details on how to win Laura's bag. 

5 comments:

  1. I'm with you! I'm a bag addict--I love them all! This bag is adorable-thank you for sharing!

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    1. Thanks, Betty! I must admit, I've gone a little nuts since I learned I could make my own bags. I might have a whole set now. :D

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