The Tree Of Life Bag Completed

The bag is finished!! Finally!!

The original bag that I made.
If you would like to see all the posts that go along with this bag, including the knitting instructions you can find them all here, http://rhondabuss.blogspot.com/search/label/Tree%20Of%20Life%20Bag.
Today I will show you how I finished the bag. Knitting the pieces is one thing, getting it all together is another.

Begin by blocking the finished pieces. Steam them well and make sure they are completely dry before removing the pins.

Once the pieces have been blocked, begin attaching the pieces by sewing in the zipper. I sewed my zipper in by hand with regular sewing thread as you see below. I used a back stitch to sew it in.

The next step will be to sew the bottom together. Sew this together with the right sides facing you and using the same thread that the bag was knitted with.

Now sew the ends to pieces to  the bag. I like to pin mine in place so the my corners are where they should be.

 The bag is together!

Now measure for the lining. I laid my bag flat and measured across,

and then from top to bottom. The top to bottom measurement I doubled as I don't want a seam in the bottom of my bag.

I had originally thought that I would use the leaf pattern I showed you on our last update, but I decided that I would like to do a skirt out of that fabric, so I used the coordinating fabric instead.

I used fusible fleece to back my lining fabric.

It has a nice loft and gives soft structure to the bag.

 Once you have fused the fleece to the fabric. sew the side seams. Then you will pinch in the bottom so that the bottom of your lining is the same measurement as the bottom of your bag.

 Sew across the points as you see below.

 

 Along the top of your bag lining, sew in leaving the same opening as the measurement of your zipper.

 Now, pinch in the sides just as you did for the bottom and sew across.

 Trim the points.

 For the bottom of my bag, I used chip board. Chip board comes in two thicknesses. I used the thickest.

Cut the chip board with a box cutter the same measurements as the bottom of your bag.
Make a sleeve for the chip board and slide it in.

The lining is hand sewn to the zipper opening with regular thread. Insert the covered chip board into the bottom of the bag.

For the handle I used straps made by Clover. I looked on their site and I was not able to find the handles that I used. Another wonderful handle that is leather can be found at the Peacock Pattern site. Her handles are only one inch shorter than the handles I used. I have seen her handles and they are a very nice quality. You can find a link to her handles here.

 To sew the straps to the bag, I fist put a pin where I would like for my handles to be. You can see that they will be sewn at the base of the last Tree of Life pattern.
 Use a double thread as you see below. As I loop the thread around the ring and through the knitted bag, I also make sure that I grab the fleece that is attached to the lining.

Once my bag is finished, I like to stuff it and them steam it well. I will leave the bag sit for a few days so that it will hold its shape.

This one will be a gift. Although, I do love it, but I don't need two!!! The first bag I knitted has gotten quite a workout as I find that it works with so many things. If you decide to give it a try, good luck and if you need any help, let me know and I'll do my best to help.