Monday, January 20, 2014

Making a cool hipster bag with zipper pockets inside and out

This bag is featured in a YouTube Video from Jean JellyRoll Queen's YouTube channel. The bag is pictured, but the directions in the video tutorial are for inserting the zipper in the inside pocket. This bag features an outside zipper pocket, plus a slip pocket on the outside, a zippered closing and a single over the shoulder strap, with D rings for strap attachment. An inside slip pocket is also a feature of this bag, as well as the inside zipper pocket. Other videos describe inserting the zipper in the top of the bag. Fabrics-- Basic bag fabric--11" x 27" for outside of main bag 8-3/4" by 11" for lower part of outside zipper pocket 10" x 11" for upper piece of zipper and back of zipper compartment Contrasting fabric--2-1/2" by 27 strips for sides, cut two pieces of this Lining Fabric--14-1/2" by 24"--lower lining below zipper--cut this in half lengthwise to make each piece 11" long 14-1/2" by 3 inches--upper lining above zipper--cut two of these Inner pocket scrap--10" by 5" hem top and fold under the other three edges. Strap fabric--4" by 30-36" (your choice of length) add 8" to your desired length for strap attacchments to body of bag Notions--two 1-1/2" round rings for attaching straps to the bag one 1-1/2" D-ring for key attachment One 12" zipper to match the outside of bag for outside zipper pocket One 16" zipper to match lining Directions--see basic directions on how to insert a zipper in a tote, my YouTube video tutorial, link above in my user notes to see how to add the zipper to the lining and inserting it into the tote. Specific directions for this tote Quilt the basic body fabric 10" by 27" of the tote to batting. Quilt the side strips (two 2-1/2" strips) separately. You will attach the side strips after you construct and attach the front zipper compartment. Front Zipper compartment. Insert zipper between the two zipper compartment pieces (see tutorial how to do this, inserting pocket zipper). Zipper teeth will be facing up with two fabric pieces attached to the two sides of the zipper. Topstitch close to seam where fabric and zipper tape are sewn together. Flip the longer piece of the fabric over so the zipper is facing out, and then line up the bottom raw end edges together, press the zipper compartment flat. There will be extra fabric sticking out above the zipper to form the upper edge of the open outside pocket. You have created a closed zipper compartment. I stay stitched the upper edge of this compartment to keep it from collapsing when used. Press under a 1/4" edge on the doubled zipper compartment fabric ends to form a hem. Take the front quilted piece of the bag, and mark a line across it 12-1/4" from top. Line up the pressed under edge of the zipper compartment on this line, pin and top stitch across the turned under edge of the zipper compartment. (This will form the bottom edge of the bag.) Press the sides of the zipper compartment against the body of the bag, and stay stitch it in place at a scant 1/4". Fold out the length of the bag, and sew the side strips to each side of this piece using a 1/4" seam. Press side pieces out and top stitch them near the seam edge. Fold bag in half lengthwise, and sew up both sides. Miter bottom edges of the bag, using the bottom edge of the zipper compartment to guide where to start the miter. Body of bag is now complete. Complete lining of bag--use directions in tutorial. Attach AFTER attaching the handles. Make the strip for the handle -cut off two 4" pieces of the strap for separate attachment pieces. This bag will only have one long shoulder strap, not two. Attaching the handle. I like to attach my handle in a different way than Jenny uses in her tutorial. I make a separate piece of fabric with either D-rings or O-rings that are attached to the bag, then attach the long handle to the rings. I think this makes for a much stronger handle attachment, as we are going to use our bags for purses. Fold the 4" piece in half, making a circle by butting the raw edges of it together. Place the O-ring/D-ring within the circle. Place the attachment over the side seams of the bag. Top stitch the fabric circle to upper part of the bag 1/2" below the top of the bag with the metal ring within the section toward the top of the bag. Sew the bottom part of the circle below, adding an O ring if you want a key attachment. Attach the lining to the bag, being careful not to catch the strap attachments as you sew it with a 1/4" seam. Attach the strap. Place the strap piece through the O-ring on one side of bag. turn under 1/4" raw edge, and top stitch it in place (I leave about 1" of space above the metal ring to give me enough space to stitch). Adjust the length of the strap on the other end, trim and stitch the same way. There you go! Your hipster bag is complete!

1 comment:

Melissa said...

The cutting directions are somewhat confusing. May be it's just me, but wow. I really want to make one of these totes!