then you can stitch up this bag. I have been
making these bags for about a year now.
My daughters & my grandchildren use them.
You can make these bags different ways but
I always opt for the easiest & the quickest.
I reuse anything that I can - including those
ribbons that come from those fancy bags at
department stores. In fact that is where these
ribbons came from. Read these directions till
you understand them. They are long only
because I want them to be clear.
The directions for this bag are different than
the other bags that I have made in the past.
This bag does not close - but you can
certainly make it to where it does close.
This bag is also unlined. Your materials
list is really small.
Materials for one bag:
a pair of pants or capri's with side pocket or pockets
ribbon
sewing machine
cutting scissors
pins
one safety pin
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This is just another view of the bag.
Generally all of these types of bags I make - are made
from long pants or capri's. The only ones that I cut up
are the items that have side pockets. These particular
pants are a soft baby green & are made from linen.
They are still beautiful & so soft!
Linen is my favorite fabric & I have tons of it!
So grab a pair of your pants or capri's that has worn out or you
have outgrown. Just make sure that it has a side pocket
or many pockets on the side. If your pants have pockets
on both legs - then thats a bonus. You can get 2 pretty
bags! These pants only have a side pocket on one of the
legs so I will only be cutting the one side.
So lets get started!
Take your pants & fold them to wear you see
the side with the pocket. Now look at the pants & locate
the side pocket. It is here where you must decide how big
do you want or need your bag to be. Now on this particular
pair of pants the pocket is located on the upper
thigh. So to keep the bag from being too long
(because I dont need a long bag),
then I will cut off a lot at the bottom of the pants.
To cut - look at your cutting mat. Make sure your
pants are straight & even on the mat. No bulges!
Just decide
where you want to cut it - & use those lines
as a cutting guide. But be careful fabric
can slip if its not pinned down. Since these
are just bags - I dont worry about too much
slippage or being fussy. Just try to cut as
straight as you can. Cut the bottom off if you
are ready. Now go to the top of the pants leg & cut
as close to the crotch as you can. As you can
see on my pants there is only about 4 inches from
the top of the side pocket to the crotch where I cut
it.
Now this is your bag - notice that the side seams
are already there - you dont have to worry about
that. And they are probably very pretty seams.
Make sure that you turn the pants to the wrong side!
At this point, run a line of pins from one side of the bag to the
other side. Go to the sewing machine and sew a straight
stitch from side to side. Afterwards remove the pins.
Now cut off any excess fabric.
For good measure - I stitched over my previous stitching
with a couple more stitchings just to give it strength.
Also I zig-zagged it. You can use fray check here if you
want to but you dont have to. The bottom is finished.
At the top - fold over and turn under a small bit of
fabric to hide your raw edge & pin it. Place your ribbon
on top - make sure that you have enough of a
casing so the ribbon can move. You dont want a fat hem but
you dont want a skinny hem either.
Now pin the edge all the way around the top of the
bag. Sew the hem down & remove the pins as you
go - BUT start & stop at each of the 2 seams. Leave
small openings here to allow for the ribbon.
Decide on how long you want your ribbons to be.
Cut them if necessary. Cut 2 ribbons.
Put a safety pin on one of your ribbons so you can thread it
thru one of the spaces in the seam. Come out on the other
side. This is one ribbon & you must thread thru the seams
2 ribbons. One ribbon goes thru one side & the
other ribbon goes thru the other side. So that one each
side of the bag there are 2 ribbons that come out from
the seams that were left open. See the next photo.
I hope that you can see what I have done here. Now
go to one of the seams. Match up the 2 ribbons & sew
a seam down them. Here you are connecting the 2 ribbons
together. Sew them together multiple times. You dont want
them coming apart. Then stitch up the ribbons at the
other seam.
Now its time to hide those ribbon seams. On the other
side seam pull of the ribbon until the one seam goes
into the hem. Now do the other side. This should
hide those ugly ribbon seams.
See - those seams are going bye-bye!
Now pull out some of the ribbon on one of the side
seams. Do not pull the side that has the ribbon seam
in it. Do the same to the other side.
What I did here first was - to gather up the top edges
by pulling the ribbons. Make sure that the ribbons even up
on each side. Once it is gathered like I want & the ribbons
are lined up evenly -
then on one side I align the ribbons together
& sew that side down along the seam as you see here.
Then repeat for the other side.
I hope that you enjoy making this bag.
by conny
