I have made up patterns for various things for years, I have never been taught, I just look at how things are constructed and then have a go. Some times it all goes wrong, but you learn from those mistakes. You need to be good at abstract thinking to draw patterns because things are sometimes in reverse or you need to imagine how to join up different size pieces of fabric. I want to get better at this so I have signed up for a course. I will let you know how I get on with that.
A while ago I did a make for a lovely magazine called Daisy Green I thought I would start off with the little make up bag I shared with them.
To make a small
make up bag you will need the following materials
- Two pieces of fabric approximately 16cm by 21 cm, or the size you want to make your bag.
- Two pieces of lining material cut to the same measurements as your main fabric. I used waterproof fabric which can be purchased from any good fabric store and is around £3 for a metre and is great for make up bags, wash bags and pencil cases and you will get loads of bags from a metre.
- For this size bag an 18cm zip, if you make a different size bag choose a zip a couple of centimetres smaller than the width of the fabric you are using
- Thread
- Some tailor's chalk, a ruler, pins and scissors. If you don't have tailor's chalk a pencil will do.
Making Up
Mark out the measurements of the
bag using the tailors chalk on the fabric and the lining. Cut two pieces of fabric and two of
lining.
If you are using a bold pattern
fabric, like the one I have used, make sure you centre the main pattern in
the middle of your fabric so that it will look good when you are
finished. I wanted to make a
feature of the Scottie dogs.
Press under 1cm on the neatened edge, pressing the right side towards the wrong side, this will be the edge of the fabric that will make the zip opening.
Fold the fabric in half and mark
the centre of the top of the fabric, find the centre of your zip. Align these two centres and pin the
fabric close to the teeth of the zip.
Using a zipper foot stitch along the edge close to the zip. (If you don't do a lot of sewing this is a special foot that lets you stitch close to a zip) Repeat the process with the other piece of fabric. Open the zip and turn the fabric so the right sides are together. Leave the zip open so you can turn your bag right side out when you are finished. Remember to change back to your normal sewing machine foot for the next steps.
Pin around the edges and stitch a narrow seam around all three
remaining edges. In dressmaking it is usual to sew 1.5cm from the raw edge, but you can sew closer to the edge on a small bag like this, around 0.5 cm will be fine. You could use the edge of your sewing machine foot as a guide an keep it level with the seam this is usually 0.3cm and would be fine for this too. To make your bag stronger, sew over the first line of stitching again. Next, neaten the edges
using the zig zag stitch on your sewing machine, this will stop the fabric from fraying.
Make the base of the bag by opening out the bag across each corner where the side seam meets the base of the bag, line up the side and base seams so that they make a triangle shape at the corner. Stitch across about 3cm from the point of the fabric. Do this at both corners. It should look like this.
Make up the lining by joining two pieces of lining fabric, right sides together and stitching
around two short sides and one long side. If you are using waterproof material you will not need
to neaten the edges as it doesn't fray and it doesn't matter which side you use as both sides are the same. Make the base of the lining match the outer bag by stitching across the corners as you did on the bag.
Place the wrong side of the bag and the wrong side of the lining together and turn under a narrow hem around the top of the lining and pin the lining and bag together.
Hand sew the lining to the zipper tape to give a nice neat finish.
Turn the bag right side out. Tah Dah!
Now you have the basic principle of a make up bag try experimenting with different sizes and shapes, find some funky fabric and make your kids some little pencil cases. I'd love to see your finished work.
