Home
Back To Patterns Page
Modern Quilt Group
Free Pattern - Switch Bag by Helen Howes
Make a Neat and Simple Bag From a Small Quilt
I made these first a while ago, and they seemed to be a really neat method of making something that is nice on the inside and easy to make...
Great for recycling odd small oblong quilts which have lost their original purpose...
First, make a little quilt (I'm not going to tell you how to do this, there is a lot of information elsewhere) and bind it all round in the usual way
Use nice fabric for the back, you will see it...
I made this one with twenty-four 4-1/2 inch blocks (4 inches when sewn together)
The shape will make the eventual bag deeper (a longer quilt) or shallower (more square...)
I made this one with half-square triangles in Oakshott Fabrics shot cottons and a set of delicious recent purchases that HB and I could not resist, and I finished the binding by machine, for speed...
Set your machine for a wide zigzag and put threads to match the bindings top and bottom
The short edges are the top of the bag and the long edges meet to make the sides
Fold one long edge in half, matching the corners as shown, and butting the bindings gently together. Don't let them overlap
Start at the edge and sew a few zigzag stitches, then back-tack, and then sew forward again, keeping the edges together, until you are almost at the bottom of the fold.
Take your time and keep the edges nicely together. It gets a bit cramped towards the bottom, be patient...
You won't be able to get all the way down, and it's easier to back-tack a little way before you turn around and sew all the way back up to the edge again, then back-tack and finish off...
Like so...
Make Handles
Cut batting strips 1 inch wide and fabric 3-1/2 inches wide. Cut the batting about an inch shorter than the fabric. You can make short handles or long ones, these are about 25 inches long
Press the fabric strip with your iron, up 1/3 of the width all the way along
Press the remaining third in half, like so
Then down over the first third, and press well
Open the folds out and lay the batting in (leave the little empty bit at each end), refold and pin
Sew three times all the way along the length (I like to use a zigzag or a wibbly stitch for strength)
Pin the handles in place, tucking the empty bit under each end, and sew to the bag where desired, making sure they are evenly spaced...
Box the bottom - turn the bag outside in and pinch the corner like so, pin where you think you might want the shape to come - the bigger the pinch the squarer the base...
Turn it out and look if you aren't sure. Sew across and back, then push the triangles flat inside the bag and tack them down.
All done! Make another?
Here's a smaller one, in red and with smaller corners
And a blue one, even smaller - maybe too small for the above method, so I sewed the edges by hand and made a book bag...
I used dyed webbing for the handles
And here are two lovely versions by HB... One in turquoise and purple with designs from her new Block of The Month - Ocean Star
And another with a lovely shaped top...
And here are two lovely versions by HB...
4, The Raveningham Centre, Beccles Road, Raveningham, Norfolk, NR14 6NU. United Kingdom