sewingnotions

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Wow!

I can't believe it, but I was named one of the winners in the SewMamaSew sewing tutorial contest with my little hobo lunch bag! So exciting!! I bring my lunch to work in mine every day so I can attest to the fact that they are very functional and a cute way to get to see your favourite fabric every day. Enjoy.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Square(ish) Bottomed Hobo Lunchbag Tutorial

Necessity being the mother of invention, I first made this bag because I wanted something that would have all the features of a plastic bag, except I wouldn’t want to throw it out. The features I really wanted were: ability to hold a square container in an upright position, tie-able, light, washable and squishable. Also cute. And so the Square(ish) Bottomed Hobo Lunchbag was born.

Materials Needed:
- Pattern paper
- Ruler
- 1/2 yard outer fabric
- 1/2 yard lining fabric
- matching thread

Step One:

Cut paper pattern, 14” bottom, 8” sides, cut a freehand curve for about 5.5” to the handle, which is 3.5” wide and 4” high.

DSC00935

DSC00936

Step Two:

Select scrumptious, easy to wash, fabrics for your lovely lunch bag.

DSC00939

Step Three:

Fold lining fabric in half carefully and pin pattern to both layers.

DSC00942

Cut around pattern. Repeat with outer fabric. You should now have four pieces that resemble little schoolhouses.

DSC00946

Step Four:

Pin lining pieces together, right sides facing in. Sew down both 8” sides and across the bottom using a 1/2” seam allowance. Leave a gap of 2-3” on the bottom seam. DON’T FORGET the gap, picking this out later is a real pain! Remove pins. Trim thread.

DSC00947

My sewing machine had a delightful little thread implosion meltdown here. No project ever goes smoothly. * Note to self: do not adjust tension while sewing.

DSC00948

Step Five:

Repeat step 4 with outer fabric, sewing across entire bottom.

Step Six:

Now we make the squared bottom. (feel free to giggle, I am immature enough to think ‘squared bottom’ is funny too!) Fold the corner into a triangle with a seam running down the middle. Measure the preferred width for your bottom. :o) I chose 6” because that fits the square containers I always use for my lunches.

DSC00951

Mark the width all the way across with a marking pencil, then sew along the line.
Do this for all four corners.

DSC00956


Step Seven:
Trim off the little elf hats to make a straight line across. About 1/2-3/4” is good.

DSC00963

Step Eight:

Turn the bag lining inside out and tuck it into the outer bag so that right sides are facing.

DSC00964

Pin together around all the rough edges.

DSC00967

Sew around the whole perimeter of the bag. You can clip the curvy bits if you’d like. (I forgot on this bag-oops!)

DSC00968

Step Nine:

Remove pins and prepare yourself for the best part of bag making! Turn the bag right side out through the hole in the lining. Poke out the handle tips with a pointy object like scissors or a pencil. Sew hole shut by hand or use the lazygal method of topstitching as I do.

DSC00969

Step Ten:

Topstitch around the outside of your lunch bag. (not strictly necessary)

DSC00970

And VOILA! (as we say here in Canada…also I suppose in parts of Europe and Africa. And French Guyana.)

DSC00973

A nifty, easy to wash plastic bag substitute. Lunchtime!

DSC00972

DSC00971

And this is my dog with the tennis ball he chewed up while I was making this tutorial.

Gizmo

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Slowly but Surely

The memory on my computer at home is so packed that I don't even have space for pictures to put on my blog- tragic but true. Time for a new one. That said, when I have a quick moment at work, it's blogging time!

Here are a couple of projects I've finished in the last little while...there is also a Rainbow Brite sheet repurpose on its way and a cute lunchbox pattern that just might be my first ever tutorial a-brewing...

A delightful (post)Christmas gift for my patient roomie of a u-handbag curved gusset shopping bag (tutorial here) made with superbuzzy fabric.

DSC00891
I also made a cute little portfolio for other roomie's birthday from Amy Butler's lovely free pattern.
DSC00925
DSC00923