Church Bag Tutorial

Recently, I was asked to teach a children’s class at my church—the four-year-olds.

Have you ever tried to teach four-year-olds?

Yeah. Their attention is all over the place. You need pictures, games, pages to color, play-dough…every lesson, pretty much, requires at least one prop, usually more.

I was also given a HUGE binder with a class list, some gospel pictures, a manual, etc. I quickly realized it was time to get one of those ginormous bags I see women toting around church.

Enter the 40% off coupon from JoAnn, and voila!

Well, not quite. It started out like this:

For $3!

Obviously, it was BO-RING! But I had a big ol’ roll of freezer paper—and a plan.

I found a picture I liked using the clip art search for Microsoft Publisher, and sketched it by hand onto my freezer paper. To see great tutorials about various methods of freezer paper stenciling, go see Char's explanation at her craft site, Crap I've Made.

This was the result:

I painted the birds with a paintbrush, then covered those spots up and spray-painted the rest of it. It was my very first freezer paper stenciling project, and I think it came out pretty well!

Unfortunately, I didn’t cover the edges of the stencil as well as I thought I did; see the brown smudges around the edges? But I wanted to add more, anyway, so I just designed the rest of my embellishments to cover up the mistakes, and they did, almost entirely.

For the pink ribbon, visit Little Birdie Secrets here to see just how easy it is to make that pleat-esque ruffle.

I sewed the ribbon down first. Then I visited JoAnn again (I’m surprised they don’t all call me by name there) and found the brown-sequined trim in the by-the-yard section. I also got an extra third of a yard, sewed about an inch of elastic to one end, attached the other end to the other side of the elastic, and made myself a headband that cost about $1.25 and took all of five minutes to complete:

Gotta have that hair out of my eyes when I’m in project mode.

(I also wore it the next day with hair all straightened. Looked nice, even hubby said so.)

I measured and sewed down each side of both pieces of brown trim to attach them to the bag, making sure they covered each end of the pink ribbon at the top.

Now, for the inside. This bag had no lining at all, so I decided to add my own. What good is a bag without pockets, when you have small stuff to take with you—keys, pens, phone, etc? I used leftover fabric from the lining of the Buttercup Bag I made. (I got it for all of $2 a yard!)

I started by measuring the bag. Here are my measurements:

• The bag was 17” wide, so the lining would be 18” (½” seam allowance on each side)
• 15 ½ “ tall, so the lining would be 16 ½“ (I wanted to turn the top under ½“, then ½“ again before attaching it to the bag)
• The fabric for the bottom folded up 2” (we’ll look more closely at that later).

First, I cut a piece of fabric that was 18" wide and 33" tall--I did that by making it 18" wide and 16 ½“ tall on the fold.

See how it's folded at the bottom, so you'll actually be cutting through two layers of fabric?

Now, once you have this cut out, you'll want to reinforce it a little, so it will hold up to having pockets sewn onto it (not to mention putting things IN those pockets).

If it's a pretty thin fabric, you'll want to attach fusible interfacing to the whole thing. (That stuff is cheap and really kind of fun to use. Who doesn't like using the iron to melt something?)

So attach that interfacing,

then trim off the excess.

You now have a nice, sturdy lining piece. (Ignore the pins.)

Now, this next part depends on you. What kind of pockets and/or holders do you need?

Here's what I did.

From left to right: cell phone pocket (with a lit-up phone inside), key strap with snap closure, regular open pocket, and pen/pencil holder.

To make a regular open pocket
(I learned this from making the Buttercup Bag):

• Cut a 5"x10" (or whatever you want, as long as the length is about twice the width) rectangle, fold in half, right sides facing, and sew around three edges, leaving a 2-inch opening. (I think it's easier to leave that opening just before you hit the fold so you only have to do one continuous seam.)
  
• Clip the corners and turn the pocket right side out through the 2-inch opening.
• Tuck in the raw edges of the 2-inch opening, and iron the whole thing flat.
• Position the pocket, with the folded section of fabric at the top, on your lining the way you want it.
• Sew around sides and bottom, leaving top open (duh, but I know I have to watch myself so I don't make dumb mistakes) and backstitching several times at the top of each side.

Three of these are variations of that; the pen holder is longer and narrower, and I sewed it down in a few places so there would be loops sticking up after making sure the loops would hold a pen snugly.



I put the key strap in because I HATE digging around the bottom of a bag, trying to find my keys so I can get in the car and go home, already.

To make a key strap:

I wanted the strap to be 1/2" wide, so I cut out a piece of fabric that was 1" wide (allowing for a 1/4" seam) and a few inches long--I just eyeballed that.

• I folded it in half, longways (along the few inches long side), with right sides facing, with a 1/4" seam allowance.
• With a little patience, I turned it right side out so it was a tube.
• I tucked in the raw edges, ironed the whole thing flat, and sewed the tucked-in raw edges in place. Then I sewed down the side the long way, trying to stay close to the edge.
  
• Then I attached the two sides of a snap--which is fun to do--to the same side of the strap so that the end of it would snap up into a loop and hold my keys. This would also work with velcro.
• I then attached the non-loop end to my lining, stitching across it several times so it will hold heavy-ish keys without coming off.

To make a cell phone pocket:

The phone pocket is a little more complicated. You basically make sides, a bottom, and a top flap closure for a regular pocket. Make a regular pocket piece and attach velcro at the top, where you'll want the flap to close over it.

To make the sides and bottom that go behind the front of the pocket, make long strips (the same way you make the basic pocket) fold them in half and iron, and then sew right down that middle fold, as close to the edge as you can. Attach to the sides and bottom of the main, flat pocket piece.
Then attach to the lining.

Make a top flap that is the same width as the pocket piece. Attach velcro to match up with the pocket piece, then attach to the lining right above the pocket.

A cell phone would probably fit just fine in a a regular pocket, to be honest. I was just having a lot of fun getting creative.

Okay. So we now have pockets. Back to the bag.

Remember how I mentioned the bottom fold line would be brought up? That's what makes the "bottom" of an otherwise flat, two-sided bag. Back at the beginning, I turned the bag inside out and measured where the fold line on the bottom is brought up. It was brought up two inches. I'll show you how I recreated this, and then maybe the whole thing will make sense. Watch:

So I have my lining piece, folded with right sides together, all lined up. Measure 2" from the bottom, and mark it with a pin--

on EACH side of the fabric, not just one.

Then, pinch the fold--the very bottom of the lining piece--and, keeping your fingers in place so they mark where that fold line is, bring that line UP INSIDE the two sides of lining until it meets and THEN PASSES the two pins. You want that fold line to be TWO INCHES PAST THOSE PINS, and where the pins are should be the new bottom of the lining.

Do you see how it's now four layers thick for those two inches, and the fold line goes inside?

Here's a picture where it's better illustrated, from when I was experimenting earlier. (DON'T do this with right sides out. You will not be turning this right side out after you sew.)


Anyway, pin up the sides.

Now sew up each side only, with a 1/2" seam allowance, being sure to backstitch a couple times over those bottom folds.

You should have something like this.
Keep it this way; don't turn it "right-side-out."

Slip it into your bag, turn under the top edges once or twice, line it up so it's nice and flush with the top and bottom of the bag, and pin in place:

like this.
(Ha. See my beloved JoAnn coupons in the bottom left there?)

Then, sew carefully around the top, close to the edge of the lining.


Your lining (and your bag) is done!

You may want to find discreet places at the bottom sides to tack the lining to the bag so it doesn't get all mussed up. A few stitches back and forth through both the lining and the canvas should work.

Now, I feel a little more prepared to face those four-year-olds every week--and a little more stylish, too!