I love this time of year and the beautiful colours of autumn against the blue skies. I think the Craft Cotton Tuscany Fat Quarter pack sums Autumn up, and really reminds me of the colours of the season. This inspired me to make an Autumn Shopping Bag, I hope you like it.
You will need: Craft Cotton Tuscany Fat Quarter fabric pack Co-ordinating thread Fusible Fleece Sewing machine, pins or clips Erasable fabric pen Two pieces of webbing for the handles measuring 15” long Lining fabric, I chose a yellow ditsy fabric that I had in my stash
Measurements: Press fabrics on a cotton setting first. Use a ¼ “seam allowance throughout the project. You will need to cut out 5 pieces of fabric for the outside of the bag, two of these are made up by patchwork, 5 for the lining and 5 pieces of fusible fleece as follows: Take 4 of the contrasting fat quarters to use for the sides of the bag. Cut 2 of these into 2” squares and 2 of the fabrics into 2” x 12” strips, depending on the pattern that you want to make. Place the fabrics onto your cutting mat as you go along so you eventually have two 12” x 12” side panels. For the side pieces and the base I used another contrasting fat quarter fabric.
Fabric Measurements (cut these in the main outer bag fabrics) Sides: 2 pieces measuring 12” x 12” – These will be made in the patchwork step above Ends: 2 pieces measuring 12” x 7” – Contrasting fabric Base: 1 piece measuring 12” x 5” – Contrasting fabric
Fabric Measurements (cut these in the lining and the fusible fleece) Sides: 2 pieces measuring 12” x 12” Ends: 2 pieces measuring 12” x 7” Base: 1 piece measuring 12” x 5”
For the two ends of the bag take the end pieces and mark 1” from each of the shorter ends. Then draw a line from the 1” mark to the top corner of the bag and cut this diagonal out so you are left with end pieces that measure 12” long and 7” the top and 5” at the bottom, this gives you bag a lovely open shape to the top of it.
For the sides of the bag 2 pieces measuring 12” x 12” Take two of the fat quarters and measure out 2” squares marking the wrong side of the fabric with an erasable pen
Sew the squares together to make strips 12” long
Take 2 more fat quarters and cut these into 2” x 12” strips
Sew the strips of squares and the longer strips together in a pattern. This is the pattern I chose, you could do whatever pattern you like with them, just have a play before you sew them together.
This forms the two 12” x 12” side pieces for your bag.
Cut out all the remaining pieces of fabric, lining and fusible fleece.
Iron the fusible fleece onto the wrong sides of your main outer bag pieces. I pinned these onto the fleece to ensure they all fit on, make sure you remove your pins before ironing!
Ready to sew
Sew the sides and the ends together
So you end up with this
Next pin or clip the base onto the bottom of the bag
I clipped the base in place and then pinned it together so it held well while I machine sewed it in position.
Next step is to take your straps and machine these onto the outside of the bag, reinforcing your stitching for the handles. I machined 2” down from the top of the bag.
Make the lining bag up in the exactly the same way as you made the outer bag, but leaving a gap at the bottom of the bag for turning
Gap for turning
Now I pinned the bag handles down so they won’t get caught when I sew the lining and the bag together
Leaving the lining wrong side out, put the outer bag inside the lining and line up your seams and raw edges, pin together and sew
Reach inside the lining and take out the two pins that are holding the handles down, and then turn your bag right sides out. Next sew up the gap in the lining
Give you bag a good press and top stitch around the top edge.
Made by Sally Mitton for the Craft Cotton Company 2017
Check out her blog here http://sallymitton.blogspot.co.uk/