Teaching Others to Sew - Simple Carry Bag Tutorial

We have a local Facebook page, on which someone had asked about sewing lessons. As soon as I offered to teach, I was swamped with responses. I will be taking my first class next week, and in preparation, I have written a tutorial for making a simple carry bag, perhaps to use for shopping.

Please feel free to comment on this tutorial. I have tried to keep it as simple as possible for beginners and would appreciate any feedback.

Carry Bag

Materials

Cotton or poly-cotton fabric – approximately 80cm of 110-115cm wide fabric

Thread

Cutting

For the bag body, cut 2 squares, 40x40cm

For the straps, cut 2 rectangles, 75x15cm

Sewing instructions

Straps – make 2 the same way

1.      With wrong sides together, fold the strip in half lengthwise, pressing with an iron to crease.  

2.      Unfold the strip, re-fold with right sides together.

3.      Pin 1.5cm seam along raw edges. 

4.      Sew in the direction of the pinning, removing pins as you go. (Leave needle in fabric each time you stop sewing to remove a pin.)

5.      Using a safety pin, turn strap through to outside.

6.      Roll seam between fingers to get edges neat, press.

Body of bag

1.      Match the 2 pieces of the bag, right sides together.

2.      Pin along right-hand side, along base, then along left-hand side.

3.      Start just below the top right-hand corner. Set machine in reverse.

4.      Sew in reverse for a few stitches.

5.      Reset machine to normal.

6.      Sew in the direction of the pinning, removing pins as you go. (Leave needle in fabric each time you stop sewing to remove a pin.)

7.      At corners, stop sewing with the needle in the fabric, turn wheel towards you so that the needle is on its way upwards but still in the fabric, then lift the foot. Turn bag anticlockwise until it sits correctly for the next direction of sewing.

8.      At the end of the sewing, at the top left-hand corner, set machine in reverse and sew a few stitches.

Make boxed corners

1.      Measure and rule a square 4x4cm at each bottom corner of the bag.

2.      Cut out both squares. 

3.      Press open seams. Neaten each part of seams with zigzag or overlock stitch.

4.      Once your seams are pressed open and neatened, place your hand inside the bag and bring the corners together lining up the seams.

5.      Pin and sew a 1.5cm seam across the diagonal cut.

6.      Neaten the seam with zigzag or overlock stitch through all thicknesses.

7.      Turn through to outside and admire your neatly aligned boxed corner.

Attach straps to bag

1.      On the open top of the bag, measure and mark 4cm from sewn side of bag.

2.      Make another mark 1cm below this mark.

3.      Press under 1cm all around top edge of bag.

4.      Place edge of raw end of strap against the 1cm mark, right sides together.

5.      Pin in place 1cm from top edge of strap. Make sure to keep the other side of the bag clear while pinning and stitching.

6.      Stitch across strap end.

Finishing

This is the trickiest part for varying thicknesses and fiddly pieces that try to get caught up in the stitching, so take care and work slowly and systematically. When putting this section through the machine, make sure only one part at a time is passing over the feed plate (under the needle). If your machine has a small arm, the bag can go over this arm and feed around it.

1.      Turn bag inside out, with straps inside.

2.      Press under approximately 1cm again on top of bag, so that the edge is turned under double. Include sewn tops of straps, keeping them straight. Pin straps temporarily to the body of the bag further down if necessary.

3.      Pin all around this fold, taking care to keep strap tops straight in the fold, and keeping the rest of the strap clear. Pin perpendicular to the top with pins pointing downwards, if pins will not sit right.

(At this point, the bag should look nearly finished (but inside out), the straps should be mostly out of sight while working on the edge, and all raw edges of the open top of the bag should be neatly tucked into the fold and pinned.)

4.      Stitch carefully all around the fold. This should be done slowly and carefully, taking care to catch in only the parts that should be, and moving across varying thicknesses as you sew in the straps. (Hint: Use a folded piece of fabric at the back of the foot to boost the machine foot when going over the thicker sections.)

5.      Finish off threads by pulling bobbin thread through to the inside of the bag and tying off the threads before snipping them.

6.      Pull bag through to right side. Bring straps to outside and pin in place where they meet against the folded top of bag.

7.      Topstitch all around top of bag, catching in straps as pinned. (Use hint again from instruction 4 above.)

8.      Pull threads through to inside of bag. Finish as per instruction 5 above.

9.      Say hooray!