Two of the fundamental construction ideas for this pouch came from So Sew Easy: the accordion-fold corner boxing method, and side tapering. I’m somewhat amazed that, in my decades of sewing, I only first encountered the accordion-fold method a year and a half ago.

I’m going to give the directions for the exact bag I made most recently, then some tweaks and variations for it, and finally the calculations you’ll need if you want to make your own custom size.

There are photos below from both of the two most recent bags I’ve made. I tried to pick the ones with the clearest demonstrations.

Sewing instructions

You’ll need lightweight upholstery fabric or something like canvas or duck, and a zipper that is at least 11″ long. Make sure the fabric is something your machine can sew through four layers of. This is a great remnant project.

1. Fabric preparation

Cut 2 pieces of fabric, each 11 1/4″ by 13″. The 11 1/4″ edges will be at the opening of the bag. Zigzag the edges of the fabrics.

Fold each piece of fabric in half, wrong sides together, to make 11 1/4″ by 6 1/2″ rectangles. Pin near the fold, with your pins parallel to it.

Now fold the loose sides of the fabric back up, resulting in a piece that is mostly right sides together but with a little accordion fold at the bottom. The original fold and the new ones should be 5/8″ apart, and the edges of the fabric should all line up together. Pin all along the edge; press the fold if desired (not shown). If this description and the photos are not clear, refer to Sew So Easy’s video.

2. Sewing individual pouches

Mark your sewing lines: you will be sewing straight up from the bottom for 5/8″, with a 1/2″ seam allowance, and then diagonally to a point 1/2″ down from the open edge and 1 1/8″ in from the side. The top 1/2″ will be open. Sew all four seams (either direction; I don’t mean to imply they have to come up from the base).

Why not sew a diagonal line all the way from top to bottom? The opening at the top is needed for zipper installation, and sewing diagonally through the accordion fold will cause the gusset triangle to pucker in the finished bag. (I tried it! Passing the savings on to you.)

Trim the seam allowance on each side and zigzag the new raw edge. Press seam allowances open near top; finger-pressing will do.

3. Connecting pouches

You now have two individual pouches. Turn each one right-side-out and choose which side will show, and which will be hidden against the other pouch. Hem the hidden sides: fold the raw edge down 1/2″ to the wrong side, with side seam allowances open so they are enclosed in the hem, and sew to secure.

Turn one bag inside-out again and nest them, right sides together. I find it easiest to slide one bag into the other if I pleat it in the middle to make it narrower, then spread it back out again once it’s mostly inside. Pin the hemmed edges together and mark the sewing lines for the pocket: the vertical seams are 4″ long and 2″ in from the side seams at the edge; then connected at the bottom with a horizontal seam. Sew.

Pull the inner bag out and turn the whole thing right-side-out. You should have 2 pouches connected in the middle via sewing that creates a flat pocket, with a raw (well, zigzagged) edge on each outer side.

4. Zipper installation

Line up the zipper so the top zipper stops are 1″ outside the side of the bag; any excess zipper length should be at the bottom end. Pin the zipper to one bag opening, wrong sides together, with the edge of the fabric lined up to the edge of the zipper tape. Keep the side seam allowances open so they get tacked down. Sew down the center of the tape. I typically use a standard sewing machine foot bumped up against the zipper teeth, with the needle moved toward the zipper teeth.

With the zipper closed, line up the other fabric edge and pin the zipper at one end (either one). Open the zipper and pin the rest, sewing the way you did the first side. If you zip the zipper at this point it forms a sort of trough between the sides of the bag, when the edges of the fabric point upward.

Trim the fabric edges as needed so they won’t protrude past the zipper tape, and fold the zipper to the outside of the bag. Make the fold in the fabric tight. Sew near the edge of the zipper tape to secure.

5. Finishing

Shorten the bottom end of the zipper if needed: sew across it a couple of times, a little more than an inch away from the bag side seam, and trim the extra length past your stitching (shown in previous picture).

Cover the raw end with a fabric tab: begin with a piece of fabric that was 1.5″ by 3″. Fold the long edges in by 1/4″ and then the short edges in by 1/2″, and fold the whole thing in half to make a 1″ square. Sandwich the end of the zipper inside so that your zipper-shortening stitching is hidden, and topstitch as close to the edge as possible on the non-fold sides.

(I make tabs slightly differently each time, and the one on the orange zipper is probably the tidiest one I’ve ever made! A wider tab on the green zipper shown for comparison – that kind is easier to put on the open end of a zipper.)

To fully match my bag, you’ll need a decorative bead zipper pull. I used three beads threaded on a head pin, with a lobster clasp attached via a wire-wrapped loop (not a good one, I didn’t leave an actual stem to wrap around). I added the clasp to the loop after shaping it and before wrapping the wire. Not my area of instructional expertise, so here are written instructions from Goody Beads and a video tutorial from Beadaholique.

Quick tweaks for your bag

1. If you need to piece your fabric, cut 4 pieces of fabric each 11 1/4″ by 7″, and zigzag all four. Sew pairs together along long edges at 1/2″ so you end up with two 11 1/4″ by 13″ pieces with a seam down the center. Press the seam allowances open. Note that you’ll be sewing through SIX layers of fabric at the accordion fold in this case.
   
2. In step 4, you could line up the zipper tape so it extends 1/8″ out from the edge of the fabric, and then not need to trim your fabric.
   
3. Often I also add a tab to the open zipper end in step 5. It increases the symmetry and gives you something easier to hold on to when opening the pouch. This is done in the same way, although working with the open zipper end is a bit fussier. I was ready to be done at that point, though, so I didn’t add one to this bag (but I did save a bit of fabric in the inner pocket in case I change my mind later). If you don’t need to shorten your zipper you can also skip fabric tabs entirely, which is seen in two of the five bags at the head of the post.

Variations

• Zipper tape to inside of bag: If you would rather have the zipper tape to the inside of the fabric, keep the two bags nested after step 3. The right sides of the unfinished edges of the bags will be facing each other. Line up and pin the zipper similarly to step 4, except right side of zipper to right side of fabric. Sew down the center of the zipper tape on both sides, then turn the whole bag right-side-out and topstitch through the fabric and zipper tape to secure. For tape-to-inside zippers I prefer to topstitch very close to the fabric fold instead of near the edge of the zipper tape (I bump the regular sewing machine foot against the zipper teeth with the needle centered), but it is a matter of taste.

• Single pocket pouch: It you only want one pocket, cut only one piece of fabric, and skip step 3 entirely. Install the zipper with the bag right-side-out to have the zipper tape show, and with the bag inside-out to have the tape (somewhat) hidden. If you have directional fabric you may want to piece, as in the first tweak above, regardless of how much fabric you have to work with.

• Lined pouch: I have not made a properly lined bag, just one where two layers of fabric were treated as one. If I were to try it, I would start exactly the same way but with 4 pieces of fabric instead of 2, and without zigzagging anything. After constructing the individual pouches I would connect lining to outer fabric of each pouch in place of hemming the hidden side of each pouch in step 3: put lining inside outer (or vice-versa), right sides together, and sew along that edge at 1/2″, with the side seam allowances open so they’re caught in the sewing. Turn the whole thing right-side-out so the lining is nested inside the outer fabric, wrong sides together. Get your seam allowances and so forth tidied up, press, and topstitch close to the seam. Then use the zipper installation to connect the lining and outer fabrics at the other half of the open edge, treating them as a single piece of fabric. Basting or zigzagging them together along the raw edge before installing the zipper might make it easier.

Sizing your own bag

If you know what finished measurements you want for width, height, and base breadth, you can calculate the fabric size needed and where to place the seams. Once you’ve constructed the individual pouches the only thing that will change in the rest of the instructions is the measurements for sewing the pocket that connects them. The important consideration there is to have something that connects them through at least half of their width and height. If you make very small pouches you might not be able to have a pocket, but you should still make two seam lines down from the open end, about a quarter of the way in from each side seam.

Choosing your size

When deciding bag size, note that the sides of these bags are theoretically tall, narrow triangles – but in practice, the contents will settle and the long triangle edges will bulge outward, converting some width into breadth.

The combination of that with the intentional flattening of the bag as you go up from the base means you need a generous amount of ease, and the fuller you want to pack the bag, the more ease you need. The marker pouch I describe above has finished measurements of 9″ width and 1 1/4″ breadth. I made it for Tombow brush pens, which are 7 1/2″ long. I’d previously made them a bag with 8 1/2″ width and 1″ breadth, and once the bags were over half full the pens were quite tight in there. The extra base breadth means they won’t reach half-full as quickly, and the extra width means when they get there it won’t be as snug.

I prefer a zipper that sticks out from the bag by an inch on each end, which requires a zipper at least 2″ longer than the finished width of the bag. This helps with the bag opening fully and also makes it easier to sew the zipper to the bag.

Fabric and seam measurements

The whole computation is based on this fact: the breadth of the base will reduce not only the height of the bag, but its width. If you want a 6″ wide bag with a 1″ base, you need 7″ of width to start out with, plus seam allowances. For a 5″ high bag with a 1″ base, you’ll need 11″ of fabric to start, plus seam allowances.

I recommend a half inch seam allowance at the opening, because that works well with the zipper installation and getting the enclosed edges away from the zipper teeth by enough but not too much. You could use a smaller seam allowance on the side edges but that would be asking for absent-minded mistakes in my case, so I use 1/2″ everywhere. To keep things a little simpler below, I’ll assume that seam allowance instead of leaving it as a variable.

In sum, your fabric cutting measurements are:
width: finished width + base breadth + 1″
height: (2 * finished height) + base breadth + 1″

To fold the fabric and mark your seam lines, the important measurement becomes tuck depth, 1/2 of the base breadth. The term “tuck” refers to the accordion fold you make in step 1. After folding your fabric in half wrong sides together, you’ll fold each half back so that the original fold and the two new folds are one tuck depth apart.

Your seam will start 1/2″ down from the opening edge and (1/2″ + tuck depth) in from the side edge. It will angle outward until it is a tuck depth up from the bottom edge and 1/2″ in from the side edge, and then go straight down to the bottom.

If you work in metric would could probably round the half inch seam allowance down to a centimeter, but you might want to turn down a bit more than a centimeter on the enclosed edges (hence start your side seam more than a centimeter down from the opening edge).

Bag sizing examples

The dark bag with gold accents was the original Tombow bag, the one that turned out to be too snug. It is 5 1/4″ tall (per the enclosed edges – more like 5 1/2″ total because the zipper doesn’t carve off a full 1/2″ seam allowance) and 8 1/2″ wide, with a 1″ base. So my fabric measurements were:
width = 8 1/2″ + 1″ + 1″ = 10 1/2″
height = (2 * 5 1/4″) + 1″ + 1″ = 12 1/2″

With a tuck depth equal to the seam allowance, the seam calculations become very tidy:
start seam 1/2″ down from top and 1″ in from side
sew diagonally down/out until 1/2″ in from both bottom and side
sew straight down to bottom at 1/2″

The bag given in the instructions beginning this post was designed to the the same height but an extra half inch wide and with a 1 1/4″ base:
width = 9″ + 1 1/4″ + 1″ = 11 1/4″
height = (2 * 5 1/4″) + 1 1/4″ + 1″ = 12 3/4″, rounded up to 13″

The post Double-Pocket Standup Marker Pouch appeared first on ReveDreams.com.

The animals are all basically snowman-shaped, with an optional front pocket (for treasures or lost teeth) and features designed by the creator. They require fleece and felt and a knowledge of whipstitch, running stitch, mattress stitch, and beginning and ending knots for hand sewing.

You can download my pdf stuffy pattern which includes the front/back, pocket, round- and square-end limbs, dragon wings/horns/ears, dog nose/ears, owl wings/face, and panda eyepatch. The simplicity of the overall shape lends itself to designing your own stuffy, though, or making variations on the ideas included – one of my students made a much cooler robot than mine, and another made an adorable panda, exaggerated like an animated character.

I’m putting this behind a cut because it got quite long. All photos can be clicked to bring up a larger version.

Step 1: Design, cut, and lay out your stuffy

What creature will you make? Pocket or no pocket? Realistic or caricatured? What color scheme?

While the shape and size of the mouth is important for expression, lots of personality comes from proportion and placement of the eyes.

Use fleece for the front, back, and pocket, and felt for anything that is particularly small or needs to hold its shape. In between, it depends on the effect you’re going for and the available materials – I used soft fleece for the owl’s wings, but stiffer felt for the dragon’s wings.

The dog’s tongue is a trimmed-down round-end limb with a pinch in the middle. The panda’s ears are also trimmed-down limbs.

For the tiniest features, some simple embroidery is easiest: the middle of the panda’s eyes, and the panda’s and dragon’s mouths, are made with little straight stitches.

If you have some form of digital camera on hand, photographing your laid-out stuffy is a great way to make sure you can sew all the pieces on in the right spots without driving yourself batty trying to keep them in place start to finish.

Step 2: Sew on features

Skill 1: Threading a needle and knotting the end

I like to sew these with a doubled length of thread, with the two ends knotted together with a couple of overhand knots. The overhand knot is the knot you start your shoelaces with. The photo below is just one length of thread for clarity, but to knot two you hold them together as though they were one.

The nice thing about a stuffed animal is that until you get to the very end, thread tails can be hanging off all over the place – they’ll all be hidden on the inside.

Skill 2: Whipstitch

Most of the stitching in these stuffies is whipstitch. All of the facial features, and chest buttons on the robot, are attached with whipstitch, and the pockets, limbs, ears, and anything else attached at the side seam are sewn to the front face with whipstitch before the front and back are sewn together. In the case of the pockets, that ensures the pocket doesn’t provide access to the stuffing (with the final mattress stitch it would be possible to catch only the pocket layer sometimes, so this is insurance). For the limbs and ears and things, it is basting so they are held in place while the final stitching happens. You could skip it, but it is quick and I especially recommend it to beginners as a frustration-saver.

Whipstitch is a simple “up and down” stitch – from the back, stitch up just on the outside of your applique piece, and stitch down about an eighth of an inch inside the edge. It looks nicest if your stitches are perpendicular to the edge (or diagonal, at a corner), which means the strand on the opposite side will move diagonally from stitch to stitch.

I recommend this whipstitch video from Shiny Happy World if you like videos.

If you know blanket stitch, you can use it for the applique instead for a different effect.

Skill 3: Tying off a length of thread

To finish a length of thread it’s all about the half hitch knot. To make a half-hitch, catch a nearby stitch or a little bit of fabric with your needle. Before pulling that loop tight, put your needle through it.

Here are two stuffy fronts, fully appliqued and basted and ready for the next step!

Step 3: Sew front and back together

Skill 4: Running stitch

We’re very close to the end now – these go from floppy flat things to actual stuffed animals pretty quickly. Place the back of the stuffy against the front so that what will be the outside of the finished creature is sandwiched in the middle. Make sure anything that should end up sticking out loose is away from the edges (I had to fold the dog’s ears in, for example). If your fleece is not the same on both sides take care that the back piece is going to show the same side as the front piece.

Use running stitch to sew front to back almost all the way around, about 1/4″ in from the edge. Leave 2-3 inches open, preferably somewhere around the bottom half of the stuffy. It is good to have all limbs/wings/ears be sewn in with the running stitch, which may limit where you can leave the opening. Leaving the opening somewhere around the pocket is okay. Definitely sew up the neck area with your running stitch.

Running stitch is the dashed-line stitch, a simple up and down along a line. The picture below shows a running stitch that is longer than what you want to make for a secure hold. Stitches about 1/8″ (4mm) long are great; a little longer is fine too, but make sure to pull them tight.

Incidentally, if you whipstitch the front and back together, there is too much give in the stitching and the stuffy will pull apart at the seams when you turn it right-side-out and stuff it. It’s not necessarily fatal, at least if you stitched sufficiently far in from the edge, but it is noticeable. You can see the difference in the dragon (my prototype; it also has a shorter pocket) versus the owl. The dragon was sewn up with whipstitch and the owl with running stitch.

If you know backstitch you can use that instead. It may be a little sturdier.

After you’ve stitched front to back, turn the stuffy right-side out and stuff it with fiberfill. Make sure to get the head fully stuffed before you put much stuffing in the body, so you can get at it.

Skill 5: Mattress stitch

Mattress stitch, also known as ladder stitch, is basically running stitch made from in between the two pieces of fabric, and it’s a wonderfully invisible, clean way to seal up the opening you left for stuffing. Start by bringing your needle out from the inside of the stuffy, at one end of your running stitch. You’ll take one straight stitch on each side of the opening in turn. One of the nice things about mattress stitch is you don’t have to tighten it as you go along – you shouldn’t wait till the end to tighten, and you may need to help the fabric go toward the inside as you tighten, but the work can stay loose near your needle, which makes it easier to see where you need to stitch.

You can see a lengthier ladder stitch tutorial on Squishy-Cute Designs.

Skill 6: Hiding the final thread end

Tie another half hitch or two to tie off your final length of thread, and then insert your needle directly next to the knot. Come out of the stuffy an inch or so away, pull the thread tight, and clip it next to the surface. It will disappear inside and the amount of thread within the stuffy will keep it from wanting to emerge.

Finally, enjoy your finished stuffies!

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None of the options I found online were what I was looking for, so I designed my own. It’s made in three rows and then the ends are sewn together. I did it with some boring Lily Sugar ‘n’ Cream (I think the color is called “natural”) held together with variegated embroidery floss for a little color pop.

Here’s the pattern for my headband; modifications and additional information follow.

Chain Link Headband!

Worsted weight cotton yarn, I/9 (5.5mm) hook.

Chain 67.
1. Starting in the second chain from the hook, alternate 2 sc decreases and 2 sc increases across.
2. Chain 2 (turning chain + 1). Skip first stitch and then alternate 2 sc and 4 chains over 4 skipped stitches – your sc are made into the middle 2 sc of each pair of increases from row 1. You will end with a chain 4 that includes the turning chain for the next row and is over only 3 skipped stitches.
3. Alternate 2 sc increases and 2 sc decreases across, starting in the second chain from the hook. Make your stitches into the chains as opposed to around the chains so they shape the way they are intended to.
Your finished flat piece should have a closed ring on the end with the starting slip knot, and two “fingers” on the opposite end. Sew those fingers to the starting end to close that “chain link” – it will be a bit wider than the ones mid-row but not very noticeable. Finish off all yarn/floss ends.

Or abbreviated:
Ch 67.
1. *Dec 2, inc 2* across (66).
2. Ch 2 (includes turning ch). Sk first st; *sc 2, sk 4 sts and ch 4* across. Will end with only 3 sk sts but still 4 chs (includes turning ch for next row) (22 sc, 44 ch + 2 turning ch).
3. *Inc 2, dec 2* across, stitching into ch instead of around ch (66).
Sew ends together and FO.

Fitting!

Headbands are very personal and crochet gauge is also very personal, so this is unlikely to work for you as written. Or perhaps you want to make it with a different weight of yarn. How should you adjust?

To determine your gauge:
Chain 13. Starting in second chain from hook, *sc dec, sc dec, sc inc, sc inc* twice.
It should make a gentle S shape. With your ruler against the two bumps of the S (so you are measuring straight along the overall direction of the work), measure from the first increase stitch to the last decrease stitch. If you follow the pattern as written, multiply that by 11 to get your finished size.

To determine your desired finished size:
Measure your head where the headband will lie and subtract 1-2 inches. I subtracted 1″ and the headband fits, but I could have gone a decent bit tighter. In fact at first I worried it was too loose to be used, but I’ve tried it in some workouts and it’s stable enough to forget it’s there. I do, however, have a large head, so 1″ is proportionally not so much; for a child’s head a 1″ subtraction might be just right. This is quite a stretchy pattern so you’re safe to go a bit smaller than you would normally.

To adjust the pattern:
Is there a multiple of your gauge measurement that is in your good finished size range? If so, that same multiple of 6, plus 1, is your starting chain length. For instance, if you were working larger than I did and had a gauge of 2 1/4″, your finished size for the pattern as written would be 24 3/4″ – probably way too big. If your head measurement is 22″, so you want a 20″-21″ headband, use a starting chain of 55: since 9 * 2 1/4″ = 20 1/4″, compute 9*6 + 1 = 55.

Adding or subtracting multiples of 6 chains ought to be possible given how much leeway you have for size; if it seems impossible go up or down a hook size and recalculate your gauge. That keeps you from having to alter the pattern itself. At the end, however, I’ll give adjustments for any multiple of 2 in case you really want them.

Using embroidery floss!

If you add embroidery floss like I did you’ll be starting a new length of it every row. There is enough floss in a skein to do both the starting chain and row 2, but there is not enough to do both row 1 or 3 and anything else. So: 3 skeins of embroidery floss. Hold skein 1 together with the yarn for the starting chain. Switch to skein 2 (cutting skein 1) for row 1. Switch back to skein 1 for row 2, and then start skein 3 for row 3. I quite liked the effect.

More modifications!

If you alter by a non-multiple-of-6 number of chains, the ends will no longer match up pattern-wise, but it can be done. You do have to have a starting chain that is (even number) + 1. Take that even number and divide by 6. What is the remainder?

0: Follow pattern as written.

2: Start row 1 with two increases; you will also end with two increases. Row 2 will begin as written and end with chain 2, skip 1 instead of 4, 3. Row 3 will begin and end with two decreases.

4: Start row 2 as written but end with 2 decreases. Row 2 will start with chain 4, skip 3 instead of 2, 1 and end as written. Row 3 will begin and end with two increases.

The post Headband! appeared first on ReveDreams.com.

These bags are modeled after old fashioned (i.e., non-zippered) plastic sandwich bags and sized after the zip-top kind. You can’t turn them over and shake and expect their contents to stay put, but as a barrier between my clean grapes and my … also clean! lunch bag, they are more than sufficient.

I have made many such bags over the years and I don’t think I’ve every blogged the recipe, which is a shame because they are very simple.

Edit May 2018: After using these baggies for the better part of a year I made a second round with a slightly wider flap; I think that is better. Measurements below have been updated.

For each 6.5″ square bag cut a 7″ x 16.25″ rectangle of cotton fabric. Fold the short edges to the wrong side by 3/4″ and then tuck the raw edges under; sew to secure. You are hemming the opening of the bag.

Fold one short edge to the right side by 1.75″ to form the flap. Bring the opposite short edge up on top of it, almost to the flap fold line. Sew the sides at 1/4″ and then zigzag the edges to prevent fraying.

Turn the finished bag right side out and push out the corners. Fold the flap over so only the right side of the fabric shows. Done!

Baggie Modifications

If you cut the rectangle with one short edge on a selvedge, you don’t need to fold it down, and your rectangle only needs to be 15.5″ instead of 16.25″. You can choose whether to have the selvedge inside the flap or at the end of the flap – it’s an artistic decision.

To make bags of different sizes, here is the formula:

Short side of rectangle: (Finished width of bag) + 1/2″
Long side of rectangle: (Finished height of bag × 2) + (flap width) + 1.5″

If one of your short edges is pre-finished, you can reduce the long side by 3/4″ — the 1.5″ above is two 3/4″ hem allowances.

To be totally clear, for the bag in the construction photos the measurements were:
Short side of rectangle: 6.5″ + 1/2″ = 7″
Long side of rectangle: (6.5″ × 2) + 1.75″ + 1.5″ = 16.25″

There are a couple of things to consider when resizing the bag: you’ll likely want a wider flap for a larger bag but you can’t reduce the flap by as much when making a smaller bag – keep it above 1/2″ wide. Also remember, for a smaller bag especially, that the sewn-down flap makes the opening a little narrower than the body of the bag. I made a small bag like this for a little bamboo eating utensil and sometimes it’s a struggle to get it in and out, though it has plenty of room once it’s inside.

The only key piece of construction is to remember the flap is on the inside when you’re sewing. Enjoy!

The post Baggies! appeared first on ReveDreams.com.

I have measurements and instructions should you want to make one like it (as well as for my own reference later). I’ve used it once so far and am quite pleased.

Mine is made from what feels like a very lightweight canvas-type fabric. It was a scrounge from the Sew-op so I don’t actually know what it is, but a lightweight home dec option would be fine. I didn’t line or interface it at all.

Outer piece: 11″ x 25″, short sides parallel to selvedge. Sew short sides together at 1/2″ to make a wide tube. Press seam allowance open and its raw edges under; stitch down. Press top edge down by 1/2″ twice to hem and stitch down.

Inner piece: 8″ x 24.5″, short sides parallel to selvedge. Zigzag short sides and fold last 1/2″ to wrong side; press and stitch down near zigzagged edge. Press top edge down by 1/2″ twice to hem and stitch down.

Place inner piece wrong sides together with outer piece, raw bottom edges aligned. At seam, folds of inner piece ends should abut folded edge of seam allowance of outer piece, as pictured. Stitch inner to outer at inner’s ends and halfway around tube. I sewed the latter seam all the way to the top of the bag instead of stopping at the top of the inner layer.

To make base of bag, flatten so seam is at one end and opposite attachment between inner and outer layers is at opposite end. Stitch all four layers together at 1/2″; no need to go all the way to the outside ends. Trim two layers (outer and inner on same side) to 1/4″ and zigzag raw edge of remaining two layers. Press all seam allowances to one side so zigzagged layers cover trimmed layers; stitch down close to zigzagged edge.

Shape bag by darting base corners: reflatten bag so bottom corner is the point of a triangle and side seam aligns with bottom seam (second picture above has this configuration). Mark a 3″-long line from fold to fold perpendicular to and centered on base/side seam; it will be 1.5″ up the seam from where the base and side seams intersect. Stitch base and side together along that line and trim to less than 1/4″; zigzag raw edge.

My strap length was dictated by my fabric width; my strap piece was 3.5″ x 55.25″. That turned out to be exactly right to make a strap which allows me to clasp the bag with my elbow when it is on my shoulder. Anything 54″ to 58″ long should work just as well.

Anyway, construction: press long edges to wrong side by 1″. Open out at ends and sew into ring at 1/2″; press seam open and re-press 1″ folds. Turn so folded ends face each other and flatten into one long strip with a fold at each end. I put the seam from joining the ends 1/4 up from one fold so it would neither produce a lump to sew through when attaching the strap nor a potentially uncomfortable pressure spot on my shoulder (it is visible in the photo showing the bag’s outside bottom view). Press doubled strip and pin layers together; topstitch all the way around 1/8″ from edge (you will be sewing through 4 layers along the long sides and 6 in the center of each end).

Pin strap to bag so ends of strap are 2″ down from top of bag and straps are centered on sides of bag. Stitch a bow tie shape to join: down along topstitching, across and up at a 45-degree angle, repeat.

The post New Tote appeared first on ReveDreams.com.

Stitch Sampler Washrag Pattern

Use cotton worsted weight yarn and an H or larger hook (5mm).

Square 1: rounds (make 2)

1. Ch 6 and sl st to form a ring.
2. Ch 1. Sc 12 into ring; sl st to 1st sc made (12 sts).
3. Ch 2. Hdc in same st as sl st. *Hdc 3 in next st, hdc, hdc* three times. Hdc 3 in next st, hdc, sl st to 1st hdc made (20 sts).
4. Ch 3. Dc in next st. *Dc 5 in next st, dc in each of next 4 sts* three times. Dc 5 in next st, dc, dc, sl st to top of ch-3 (36 sts).
Cut yarn, leaving a nice long tail to sew with, and pull cut end through last stitch. Weave in the starting tail.

Square 2: rows (make 2)

1. Ch 11. Starting in 2nd ch from hk, sc across (10 sts).
2. Ch 1, turn. Sc across (10 sts).
3. Ch 3, turn. Dc in next st. Ch 2 and sk 2 sts; dc in next 2 sts. Ch 2 and sk 2 sts; dc in last 2 sts (6 dc and 2 ch-2 sps).
4. Ch 1, turn. Sc in first 2 sts; sc 2 around ch. Sc in next 2 sts; sc 2 around ch. Sc in last 2 sts (10 sts).
5. Ch 1, turn. Sc across (10 sts).
6-8. Repeat rows 3-5.
Cut yarn, leaving a tail to sew with, and pull cut end through last stitch. Weave in the starting tail.

Sewing

Use the long tails to sew the squares together. To line them up, set each rows square with its last row/sewing tail at the top. Place a rounds square above each rows square with its tail off to the left. Match the near edges of the vertical pairs, placing the squares back to back with those edges up, and use the tail to whipstitch them together, stitch to stitch. Sew in the remaining tail afterward.

Next line up the two pairs so the squares make a checkerboard and the remaining sewing tails are on the edges to be joined. With each tail, stitch straight through one square edge to get to the outer end of the seam and whipstitch back to the center; secure the end. Before securing the second end you may wish to open out the full washrag and sew up any gap in the center.

Bordering

You can make a simple but sturdy border for the washrag with single crochet. Tie a slip knot and place it on your hook, and then insert your hook into a stitch on the edge of the washrag and make a slip stitch. Chain 1 and sc around; where you have stitches or leftover starting chain strands this will be straightforward, but on the sides of rows you’ll want 1 stitch per single crochet row and 2 per double crochet row. Just do it by eye. Stitch through the stitches or completely around the end stitch of the row as desired. Put 3 sc into the same stitch to turn a corner. I would make 2 rounds, and of course the second will be easier because there’s no figuring out where to put stitches. Don’t forget your 3 sc to turn corners!

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For each bag you’ll need two 4″x7″ pieces of muslin and two 4″ lengths of 3/4″ to 1″ wide ribbon. You’ll also need two matching lengths of narrower ribbon (1/4″ is appropriate) to form the drawstring. This is a matter of taste, but mine ranged from 16″ to 25″ long – the closed bag in the photo is the shortest drawstring.

1. Prep the wide ribbons: Fold the ends to the wrong side by 1/4″ and tuck the corners under; sew to secure (doesn’t have to be pretty because it won’t show).

2. Prep the muslin: Fold the top edge to the wrong side by 1/4″ twice; sew to secure.

3. Attach the wide ribbons: Fold the ends of the ribbon in once more and place the ribbon on the right side of the muslin, 3/4″ down from the folded edge and centered horizontally – for me this put the ribbon ends just under 5/8″ in from the fabric edge. Sew along the ribbons’ long edges.

4. Attach the halves: Place the muslin right sides together and sew at 1/4″ along the three raw edges. Turn (I have some advice below).

5. Make an “inside-out French seam”: Sew again at 1/4″ along the sides and bottom of the bag. Be sure to avoid catching the ends of the wide ribbons in your stitching! This is for looks, but also to help prevent baking soda or other finer materials from sneaking out through the seam, between the two pieces of fabric.

6. Make the drawstring: Thread one narrow ribbon through both wide ribbons, so that its ends emerge on the same side of the bag; tie an overhand knot to join the ends. Thread the other narrow ribbon likewise, but so its ends emerge on the opposite side.

Advice on clean corners when you turn the bag at the end of step 4: I tend to clip my corners when I am going to turn boxy shapes, but I worried that it would defeat the purpose of the double seam a bit, so I used a method I read about ages ago.

Fold the seam allowances to the same side, as shown in the photo, and pinch them in place – finger up at the corner between the bag layers, thumb on the seam allowances (probably folding the top bag layer down to reach). Rotate the corner outward. If all goes well you should even find the extra bulk helps push the corner out cleanly without much effort from you.

Put a pin through the first corner while doing the second one, for safekeeping. I found this easiest to do when the bag was mostly turned, and I had just pulled the relevant corner up a bit.

For the record, my thoughts on stale closets are: baking soda before any scented things, to remove bad smells without also removing good ones; dry rice if moisture might be part of the problem; and then whatever scented things you might like, perhaps still mixed in with rice. The Upper Valley Co-op actually had rosebuds available in their bulk spices, which was pretty nifty, and after smelling a whole lot of jars I also picked out cinnamon chips (not the chocolate-chip-style things, but cinnamon bark in smaller pieces), whole cloves, lavender, and spearmint. I would also consider whole allspice, dried citrus peel (in wide strips, not little grinds), and maybe whole nutmeg broken apart with a hammer. If you wanted to go really simple, Yogi brand tea comes in some strongly-scented flavors — you could just hang some teabags up!

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The shape I decided on was a barrel with a flap in the long direction, buttoned down near each end. The pattern is at the bottom of this post (behind the cut, if you’re on my main blog page); before that are my experiences with the felting process.

My pre-felting measurements:
Gauge: a bit over 11 stitches and a bit under 13 rows in 4″.
The rectangle is 10.75″ tall and just over 9″ wide.

I read this was a good but slow felting yarn, and decided to help it along by brushing it with a cat brush before starting the felting process. I don’t know whether it helped, but then I don’t have any comparison.

I started with two rounds of wash-wash-rinse in my giant washing machine, with two spiky plastic dryer balls for company and a little bit of soap. The machine was set on heavy soil, hot water, and the heavy duty cycle, and the pouch was in a mesh bag to keep in lint. Even after a run in the dryer, very little happened (the results are the first 3 pictures above). Afterward I did a round of hand-felting by shaking the pouch (without a mesh bag) with the dryer balls in a plastic canister, in two changes of water, each with a bit of dish soap and one also with baking soda. I read that hard water inhibits felting, and while I wouldn’t call ours hard, it’s far from soft. Another trip through the dryer, and still just about nothing (last picture above).

After a bit more research, I learned this “good for felting” yarn has a reputation online for being persnickety about felting. I went back to the washing machine, but more seriously. Same settings, with a round of wash-wash-rinse, but this time with two pairs of pants in addition to the dryer balls, a kettleful of nearly boiling water added to each wash, and a pretreatment of soaking the pouch in ice water before the first wash – the temperature change is supposed to help shock the fibers open. No mesh bag, either, because it didn’t seem to be shedding badly.

That is when the magic happened. So much smaller, so little stitch definition. I don’t know how much was the particular method I used last and how much was the fibers finally being ready to give up their original shape, but I can say I’ll start with this method next time. A shave (see notes on razors in an earlier post) and some buttons and it was ready for use!

Final measurements: 7″ seam to seam and 8.5″ end to end, since the ends are poofed out. Not quite 9″ around from opening to end of flap (what would be the height of the original rectangle); 2.5″ diameter. The rectangle lost almost 2″ in each direction.

Felted Pencil Bag Pattern

See Crochet Reference for abbreviations, my pattern conventions, and links to stitch instructions. See above for gauge. I used an H hook (5mm).

Body:
1. Fsc 20.
2. 2sc, ch 3/sk 3 sts, sc 12, ch 3/sk 3 sts, 2sc (6 ch, 16 sc).
3. 2sc, sc, sc 3 in ch sp, sc 12, sc 3 in ch sp, sc, 2sc (24).
4. 2sc, sc 22, 2sc (26).
5-33. Sc across (26 sc; 29 rows).
FO.

Ends:
1. Ch 2, sc 7 in 2nd ch from hk.
2. 2sc around (14).
3. *2sc, sc* around (21).
Provided your body rectangle is finished, keep your yarn on your hook and proceed to assembly.
[If you make these first, place a stitch marker and make a round of 28: *2sc, sc 2* around. Loosen your last loop and cut the yarn, but don’t pull the end through. This will ensure you have enough yarn to attach the pieces without having way too much.]

Assembly:
If you made the ends first, pull out the last round of one and place the loop at the end of the final round-3 stitch on your hook.
Attach the disks to the body however you desire, by sewing or slip stitching or single crocheting. I did it in a slightly nonstandard way, trusting that the felting process would seal up any gaps:
** *Pull up a loop in the next disk st, insert hk in last row of body, YO and pull through body + 2 lps on hk.*
Sl st in next row of body.
Repeat *…* twice. 3 sts of disk, 4 rows of body accounted for.**
Repeat **…** around the disk (7 times total). On the last stitch I made my sc in the disk stitch only (to leave a little gap for the opening), but that gap stayed at least as large as originally upon felting, so I wouldn’t do so again.
(Essentially what I did there was to sc the pieces together, but not attach the rectangle until the second YO of the sc. In lieu of making every third stitch an increase, as I would have to make a fourth round on the disk, I slip stitched into just the body. Those are the gaps I hoped would seal up in washing.)

Attach the second disk however you attached the first, but you’ll need to start at the body row where you finished with the first disk.

After felting, mark button locations and sew on buttons – include a good shank! I decided to make the side with the attaching round of sc the inside, because the line between rectangle and disk was cleaner on the other side.

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In the early days of this blog I designed a compact fluorescent lightbulb and stitched an incandescent bulb to go along with it. In honor of today I thought I’d write a pattern for the incandescent bulb, clean up the CFL pattern if possible, and add an LED bulb pattern to the mix!

The CFL changes have been made to the original blog post, and for the LED pattern you’ll have to get the Name-Your-Price pattern in the store (which includes all three bulbs). The incandescent pattern is below.

Incandescent Light Bulb

Gauge is not terribly important, but since I use an E/4 hook (3.5mm) on the CFL, I used it on the incandescent as well. You’ll need worsted weight yarn in two colors, stuffing, and (optionally) something to weight the bottom with (I have used tangled necklace chains, beads, pebbles, and coins). My crochet abbreviations and conventions are on the crochet reference page, and any stitch instruction you might want is linked to from the pattern page.

In bulb color:
1. Form magic ring, ch 1, and sc 6.
2. 2sc around (12).
3. *Sc, 2sc* around (18).
4. *2sc, sc 2* around (24).
5. Sc 2, *2sc, sc 3* five times, 2sc, sc (30).
6-8. Sc around (30 sc; 3 rnds).
9. *Dec, sc 5* four times, sc 2 (26).
10. Sc 2, *dec, sc 4* four times (22).
11. *Dec, sc 3* four times, sc 2 (18).
12-13. Sc around (18 sc, 2 rnds).
14. *Dec, sc 4* around (15).
15-17. Sc around (15 sc; 3 rnds).
18. *Dec, sc 3* around (12). Stuff bulb.

Cut yarn and needle join in second stitch from end; FO bulb color.

In base color: tie slip knot and place on hook. Insert into any stitch of rnd 18 and attach with slip stitch.
19. Starting in next st and ended in same st as sl st, sc around (12).
20-23. Sc around (12 sc; 4 rnds). Stuff, finishing with bottom weight if using.
24. *Dec* around (6). FO.

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I had in my stash some pieces of a dollar store mesh laundry bag that I bought eight years ago for aeration in a gym bag (I don’t think I ever showed it to you, since it was before the blog; see the bottom of this post for photos). Finally I made a new holder with it.

I laboriously zigzagged the piece into a tube (it kept getting sucked into the machine) and then folded it so the seam was center back. Bias tape (extra wide double fold, my favorite kind) across the bottom and around the top, and then in a hanging loop. Simple and quick.

Finally, as promised, a few pictures of the gym bag. Click to embiggen (as always) and un-crop.

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