The Birth of a Bag…

Meet Barb…our bag lady!  ( Sorry Barb…I couldn’t resist!  :o)   Seriously, Barb was our Chubby Bag instructor and she did an awesome job!!  Here she is with her own Chubby Bag which she used as an example to spur us on…

  

We all came with our homework done…here we are setting up.

Barb helped us with the hard part…attaching pockets, making the flat part of the bags… and then how to make the bag stand up!

Here’s how you do it…draw around a 4 3/4” template on the bottom corner of the front and back of the flat bag. 

  

Then pinching the corner so that you see the flat line…and stitching along this line…I know this is the tricky part…You really need Barb here to help you out…she is SEW good at explaining things!

You cut the point off and presto a flat bottom -now your bag can sit!  AND you end up with Lady GaGa points…which you could quite easily turn into a bra…BONUS! :o)

Next come the handles…oops forgot to take pictures…so make straps..:o)

Sew the lining to the bag…and then turn right side out!

Which is what this quilter is about to do…reminded me a little of giving birth…

…push…PULL!  Yup, a lot like giving birth…that whole bag with all those layers of fusible fleece has to go through that little hole.  Much to Barb’s relief there wasn’t much grunting or groaning and no screaming!!

Whew…a nice 6 pound baby bag…made of Asian Prints!!

This lady was getting teased about being able to find her bag in the dark!!

We all took our bags home to finish with the promise to bring them back next Monday all done up for Show and Tell.

I made mine a little different…I made a few stitches on each corner to square them up a bit. 

I also put a tongue closure on mine…which I’m not that happy with…a little too long but what the hay…it’s my first attempt at a bag…

Aside from that I am loving this bag…the buttons I cut off an old sweater and are perfect…or as perfect as they are going to get on this looonnnng tongue!

   The fabric is called Wild Rose by Blackbird.  Oh, I forgot to show you inside of the bag…there are two big pockets on both walls of the purse.  I have made two narrow pockets..one for scissors and one my for rotary cutter and the other two are 7 inches wide perfect for rulers and other stuff.

I ran out of fabric to cover the foam board on the bottom of the bag so I used a scrap of gold fabric.  I remembered someone at The Sands saying they had put a black bottom on their bag and found that it was too dark inside the bag to find anything.  Well inside mine, it’s like a light bulb has gone on!!

SEW there you have it…The Chubby Bag…just hanging around ready to be used!

And before I go…just one more flash of my first ever free motion quilting… 

…I’m going to get up my nerve to try this on a quilt someday…a small quilt… after just a little lot more practice!

Man, I’m bagged! 

Thanks Barb…this was a fun project!

Have a thrilling Thursday and Happy Quilting!!~P