Craft Project Bag

If you are Amy Williams {my sister, not the Luge athlete} - look away now.

So, my sister knits and loves hippos, so the obvious thing to make for her birthday is a Hippo project bag! Somewhere to stash your work in progress in a safe place. I altered the project of Shopping Bag from Love... Sewing by Cheryl Owen, which is a roomy bag with pockets on the outside.

I was somewhat limited by the quantity of the hippo fabric - I had half a metre, so although the template in the book called for an x% increase {why do they do this - most home printers only take A4}, I used the measurements of my fabric and did a freehand amendment accordingly, on greaseproof paper!

Project bag/Shopping bag - the possibilites are endless...

The fabric is cut on the fold of the short side, so unfortunately, you have a fabric join in the centre of the bag. Although the original project has a central panel of fabric, I didn't need any extra width. I can only think that the reason for this construction is to do with physics and you can open the bag up better when you are not limited by side seams. Who knows if this is correct?! I did toy with the idea of running ric rac or ribbon down the join but decided against it in the end.

The construction is very straightforward, and if you have ever made a bag before, you will know exactly what to do.  Sew your two outer fabrics together at the short sides, then centering the seam in the middle of the bag, sew the bottom {all while right sides together}.

Near perfect fabric matching in one area, but sadly not throughout!

You repeat for the lining - I added in a little phone sized pocket. Then with the sew the lining and main fabric together, right sides together along the curves, leaving the small  uppermost part open. You have to stack the bag and lining together to do this.

Inner pocket - add a little triangle at the top to reinforce

Pull the bag the right way round through the opening. Iron in place and carefully top stitch the curve. Attach the bag handle by pulling the central piece through and tucking under so no raw edges are showing and sewing {I needed to use a Denim & Jeans needle}. Repeat on the other side and hey presto, you have a bag!

The hippo fabric is Hungry Hippos heavy cotton by Kokka - I bought mine from Celtic Fusion Fabrics. The red spot fabric is a lighter weight cotton. I didn't use interfacing, as the hippo fabric is heavy enough and the bag needs to be fairly flexible.

Obviously, this bag isn't just for knitting but can be used for a range of craft projects.

Love Mrs Jones x