The perfectionist in me has been procrastinating this project for some time now as I tend to put off anything that I'm not 100% sure of. Plus, I have always had a love/hate relationship with sewing. I love the finished results, but I hate the process. Finally, I decided that it was time to just get this project finished, so this may not be the best way to line a bag...it's just what I did.
After I had prewashed and ironed my material I folded it in half with right sides facing. I then laid the Touch of Africa Shoulder Bag out on the fabric and used it as a template. I lined the top center of the handle on the fold so that I would be cutting out both sides of the bag handle at once. I added a 1/2" to 5/8" seam allowance. More is better as it leaves room for error and you can always trim any excess material later.
They say to measure twice and cut once, but as you can see from the photo I used a combination of following the tape measure as a guide and eyeballing it.
This is what the strap looked like after I had cut it out. I used the same technique to cut out the body of the bag. I placed the bottom of the crocheted bag along the fold so that I was cutting out one long piece of fabric. Again, I added about a 1/2" to 5/8" seam allowance.
It's hard to tell from the picture, but I added a pocket. Nothing fussy. I simply cut out a rectangle about 5 1/2" x 10". I folded the sides and the bottom in about a 1/4". I folded the top of the pocket down a 1/4" twice and machine stitched in place. I laid the pocket onto the right side of the fabric and sewed an 1/8" seam around both sides and the bottom of the pocket. I also ran another seam down the middle so that the pocket was divided into two separate pockets.
Once the pocket was complete I folded the body of the bag in half, right sides facing, and machine basted the two side seams together. I then made sure that the lining fit nicely into the bag and that the top edges lined up. Once I was sure that everything lined up I machine sewed the two side seams.
I folded the long edges of the handle in about 1/2" and ironed in place. I laid the handle on the bag, right sides facing and matching the center of the handle up with the side seam on the bag.
I machine basted the handle in place and again checked to ensure that the lining would fit the bag. The wonderful thing is that the crocheted bag has a lot of ease so I found I didn't have to make any adjustments. After double checking that everything fit I machine sewed the handle in place.
I folded the top edge of the bag lining down 1/2" and ironed in place.
With the bottom of the bag facing I folded both corners of bag towards the center leaving 6" between the two points. Lining the points up with the bottom center of the lining I tacked the corners into place.
kim.
You made that look pretty easy!
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