Fabulous Free Pattern Friday/Toiletry and Lipstick Bag

The first of this month, I had the wonderful opportunity to teach a bag making class for the Peoria, IL American Sewing Guild chapter. It was a packed day, but everyone left with a finished tote bag. I named the large bag, The Parisian Travel and Market Bag. The companion bags are a toiletry bag and a lipstick bag. Now the smaller bag can be used for anything. It's especially great for small items...like lipstick, cotton pads, or anything that could possibly get lost in a larger bag. 

The toiletry bag has a front zippered pocket, great for combs, nail files, anything that's rather flat.

Both bags have a gusset that allows for plenty of storage room.

October is my official blogging anniversary. Now, truth be told, I did 1 blog post and then went months before I ever posted again. That was in 2009, so 7 years ago. Amazing!!! In reality, I've been blogging on a regular basis since 2012. But since October is the official anniversary, I thought I would do a little something special today and give you the patterns for the toiletry bag as well as the lipstick bag. Nice :) You can find the Lipstick Bag and Toiletry Bag patterns HERE.

In the true spirit of Fabulous Free Pattern Friday, I am going to make you draft the gusset for the toiletry bag. You will need to draw a rectangle that is 4" x 27 1/2".  

For the lipstick bag, you will need a 7" dress weight zipper.

For the toiletry bag, you will need a 9", and a 14" dress weight zipper.

The bags require 3 1/2 yards of piping. I like to make my piping from cording that can be purchased in the home dec section.

All exterior pieces of the bag are interfaced with a woven cotton interfacing, including the pocket pieces. The lining is not interfaced. I light to use a medium weight home dec fabric. Waverly fabrics are my favorites. 

Begin with the front toiletry bag pocket. Press in a 1/2" seam allowance on both straight edges of the top and bottom pocket. Align the 9" zipper so that there is 3/8" seam allowance on either end of the zipper.   

Edge stitch the zipper in place.

Baste the zippered pocket to the front of the bag.

Sew the exterior gusset to the lining gusset at either end with a 3/8" seam allowance.  
From this point on, all seam allowances will be 3/8". Turn the gusset the right side, press and edge stitch the ends. Baste the side seams together.

Make the piping. Cut 3 1/2 yards of piping strips 1 1/2" wide. Sew strips together as you see below.

Once sewn, wrap the fabric around the cording and stitch together with a zipper foot.

Sew the cording to the front and back pocket panels, beginning at the bottom of the panel. Leave approximately 2" free. 

Open up 1 end of the cording and reveal the cord. Lay the opposite cord next to the exposed cord and cut away so that the cording from the opposite end will lay inside the bias strip.Be sure to fold back the raw edge. Wrap the fabric around the cording and stitch down.

Transfer the small dot from the pattern onto the front and back. The zipper will be sewn from 1 dot to the other.

Fold back the seam allowance of the piping and align the end of the zipper with the dot at 1 end. The teeth of the zipper should be even with the edge of the piping. 

Fold back the end of the zipper tape prior to sewing.

Stitch the zipper to the bag by sewing from 1 dot to the other and stitching in the ditch between the bag and the piping.

As you can see, the zipper will be longer than the top edge of the bag.

Now install the gusset. Transfer the larger dot to the bag. The gusset will be sewn from large dot to large dot. 

To sew the lining to the bag, simply match the right sides together of first the front.Stitch the lining from small dot to small dot, leaving the top edge of the lining open. Once sewn, turn right side out. Repeat for the back side of the bag.

Hand stitch the top of the lining to the zipper. 

In order to have the gusset fold into the bag when the bag is closed, the gusset will need to be stitched. 

Simply fold the gusset with right sides together and stitch down from the top edge 2 1/2".

To finish off the end of the zipper, sew a square tab to the end. The end of the zipper can be left outside the bag, or tucked inside.

The lipstick bag is sewn together the same as the toiletry bag, minus the exterior zippered pocket. When stitching down the gusset, stitch it down 1" rather than the 2 1/2" as was down with the toiletry bag. 

The bags are finished and ready for an adventure!

The companion bag will be available for purchase in a few weeks. It features a top zipper as well as an interior zippered pocket. What I especially like about the bag is the zippered slip pocket. The pocket slides over the handle of a rolling suitcase. With the zipper at the top, you have a safe and secure place to stash your ticket as well as your I.D.

Hope you enjoy making the small bags!

Let's see what the next 7 years bring :) 

Rhonda

The Fabulous Free Pattern Friday Simple Tote Makes Sewists Happy

"Do you ever have days that you just feel low? Nothing's happened, everything is the same as it was yesterday, you aren't sick...you just feel low. That's how I'm feeling this morning. A few years back, I read The Magic of Thinking Big. A very motivational book. I recently checked out the audio version as I thought my husband would also enjoy it. We were going to be traveling, so an audio book is always a welcome diversion. In the book he suggests saying out loud in a big voice, "I FEEL GREAT!!!" He also suggests that you smile just as big as you can, a great big goofy smile, showing lots of teeth. It is amazing how those 2 simple things can change how you feel. As soon as I'm off the computer I plan to shout out the mantra and smile a great big goofy grin. I'm smiling now at the thought of it and I'm already feeling a bit better :)

Back in early December I shared the bag below with you as a Fabulous Free Pattern Friday item. I am just about to wear out my bag as I grab it for everything, and...it makes the best shopping bag too. I called it a Simple Tote as it is so easy to make. You can find the original post HERE. I used panels that I purchased at Joann Fabrics, a fabric chain store here in America. I made one as a grab bag gift, one for myself and one for my mother. I recently saw the lady who won the grab bag gift. I was surprised when I saw that she had the bag with her. She told me that she too uses it for everything. and she loves the size and the versatility. Nice that it was such a hit :) 

I recently received a message from a lady I met a while back when I was in Novi for the American Sewing Expo. She is an instructor and also sells Viking sewing machines in Indianapolis, Indiana. She loved the tote and asked if I would mind her using my instructions for a class. She made up the sample below.

 And here are her proud students.

They used Home Dec remnants, added embroidered initials, and made the bags their own. I just love those beautiful smiling faces!

Chris, the instructor told me that a couple of the ladies are new to sewing, and they were so pleased with their bags. Ahhh, I love it when a new sewist is born :) She also told me that a few of the ladies added a zippered pocket. Great idea. I completely forgot about adding a pocket to the bag I made for my self and I REALLY miss having one. So keep that in mind if you decide to make a tote for yourself.

For those of you who may teach summer sewing camps, keep this bag in mind. The size is great for books and can easily be slung over the shoulder. Made in a fun fabric, I think most teenagers would enjoy having a bag like this for school.

Have a wonderful day, and smile big!   

Rhonda

Thrifty Thursday On Monday/A Customizable Accessory Pouch

I felt so bad about the last Thrifty Thursday pattern not being the free pattern that I thought it was, so I decided to post this great little accessory pouch a little early. 

When I first came across this pattern from Thread Riding Hood, I thought it was just another little pouch, but then I looked a little closer and my mind took off!

What a great way to really make a unique gift. You can fussy cut a pattern as was done above, or monogram the bag as I did.

For those of you who like to embroider,  then you could embroider an initial, but I took the easy way out and just printed out my initial. I keep a pack of computer printable fabric on hand. You can find it in the quilt section of your local chain fabric store, and I'm sure at any quilt fabric store. 

The pattern comes with a template so you can get the exact image that you would like in the cat eye area. I played around with the font until I had a size that would fit into the area. Of course you can also customize the color.  

The only issue with the computer printer fabric is that it isn't wide enough for the pattern piece. A little pouch is formed on the back of the front pieces, and this pouch piece is somewhat large in comparison to the other pattern pieces. 

What I did was just cut the monogram out the size of the template and then sandwich the monogram inside the pouch.

The inside of the bag is fully lined.

The back features the same edge piece that the front has, but a plain bottom. 

The zipper application is very easy to do. Just follow the step by step instructions.

I now have an accessory pouch that works beautifully with my new tote bag. What a lovely gift a set like this would be. 

The pouch makes up so very quickly, so you can easily make a bunch for gifts. The only change I will be making to future bags, is to add a removable wrist strap.
You can find the pattern HERE. This is one of those patterns that's not only a fast make, but fun too!
Enjoy!
Rhonda