I Made Another Bag

But this time it was because I needed a new bag. I have an old drawstring bag that gets used for outings when I need to carry water, sun screen etc but don't need the usual stuff that I carry in a handbag. It is at least 18 years old, the draw string is frayed, support wires are coming out and it is grubby and smelly despite laundering. But it is useful so I decided to make a new one. I couldn't find a pattern on the internet and as it seemed like a bunch of rectangles, I made my own pattern by measuring the original bag. A couple of changes I made are that I lined the bag so that there were not exposed seams, the seams in the original bag were finished with plastic, and I added a pocket. The one thing I don't like is not being able to find keys which have disappeared inside the bag somewhere.

I wasn't sure how to make the pocket. I knew I wanted it zipped and I wanted all four sides attached to the inside of the bag because I do not like bags where the inside pocket is just attached to the top, and I didn't want exposed seams. I cut fabric the width of the pocket and twice the depth plus seam allowance, turned under 1/4 inch on all sides, folded in half width wise and stitched around the three open edges. I made another piece the same width with a final finished depth of about one inch. The zipper was place between the folded edges and then the pocket was sewn onto the lining.

I wasn't sure what to use to give support to the base of the bag, but I found some binding which is rope inside fabric with a seam allowance, I have no idea what it is called but the rope gives the bag stability and being already encased in tape made it (relatively) easy to sew with the base of the bag. I was not sure how to join the ends as I sewed them into a circle so had to guess. I unpicked the stitching on the tape, this wasn't hard as the stitches were big, and cut the rope at the right length to abut the start, folded the cut end of tape to cover the raw edge and then overlapped the start. This covers the start and finish without there being a double width of rope.

I am really pleased with the end result.

Here is a picture of the original bag.



And here is a picture of the new bag.