Thursday, July 24, 2014

Red Zipper Bag

Last Saturday I made some string fabric out of red scraps.  I made it quilt as you go on batting so that I could use it to make another boxy zipper bag.  Here are some basic instructions which can be combined with this tutorial to make a cool zipper pouch.
 To make a boxy bag, you will need two pieces of outer fabric, each 10 by 12 inches.  You could use interfacing to stabilize a piece of beautiful focus fabric, but you could also use scraps and an easy quilt as you go method to put some of your scraps to good use.
Start with two pieces of 100% cotton batting 11 by 13, this will give you a little room to straighten every thing out at the end.  The 100% cotton part is important, polyester might melt with the iron.  I'm sure you can find something in your batting scrap bag that will work.  I know I did.  Also cut a nice pile of random strings, each about 13 inches long.  Use whatever widths you have on hand.  Mine were between 1 and 2 inches wide, but anything will work.
Place two strings, right sides together, on top of the batting.   Then sewn it down, right through the batting.  This will attach the strings together and quilt them at the same time.
Press the strip open, and then add another to each side. Continue to add strips until the batting is covered completely.
Trim the entire piece to 10 by 12 inches.
After you have prepared two pieces of quilted fabric, you are ready to follow the directions shown here.  The pattern is a free download at craftsy and gives you all the details about how to make this adorable bag.
It is boxy and cute and just the right size for all your bathroom things on a long trip or a few sewing things to keep you busy in the car.  

5 comments:

Bonnie said...

Nice to know that Craftsy has that tutorial. I one a bag like that recently. It was made with selvedges. Fits shoes perfectly. I like using strings idea also.

Needled Mom said...

That will come in so handy. It looks great too.

Barb said...

What a clever thing to do, thanks so much!

Terri said...

What a great color, too!
Hugs

Kate said...

Very cute and oh so useful to keep things all together!