Boho Shoulder Bag: Textiles

Boho Shoulder Bag

After last weeks disaster of not posting, I thought I'd do something special for the oncoming summer and potential festivals or beach days. Before I begin I want to say sorry if you don't understand something. This is the first time I've made one of these bags so this was just as confusing, if not more so for me, because I winged all of it. Any questions please comment and I will help out you out best I can.

Lets get cracking!!!

You'll need:

• News paper (biggest pages you have)
• A pen
• Maybe tape if your paper isn't big enough
• Lots of pins
• Thread (same colour as main fabric/s)
• Sewing machine 
• Fabric for lining (thinner fabric)
• Fabric for the outside of the bag (thickest fabric)
• And scissors 

Making Pattern:

Fold your biggest sheet of newspaper in half portrait. Then grab your pen and draw a lovely curvaceous line like so, the top line if you want a deeper bag:

This is your pattern, please cut it out.

Cutting Fabric out:

You'll need to cut four pieces of fabric out using the pattern you just made. Make sure you leave 1cm extra for a seam line. Pin your pattern to the fabric first then cut it out.

Iron your fabrics:

Sewing first seam:

Lie your two lining pieces on top of each other so their right sides are touching. Pin the right edge of the fabric together 1cm in, then sew down this line. Do the same to your outside fabrics. Then iron the seams open to give a neat look.

Sewing on pockets:

I cut the back pockets off a pair of my mums old jeans, which i used as the the pockets of the bag, because i am that lazy. To jazz them up a bit, I put some simple appliqué of cut out sticky back felt (donated by Charlotte). I just cut out some random shapes, a hippy sign and a heart to keep with the hippy theme. Then I pinned them to the front fabric piece of the future bag on the right side, and sewed them on. 

You don't have to do this, you could make your own pockets or even stitch on appliqué.

Ironing:

Make sure all your seams as you are sewing are ironed flat.

Sewing tops of fabrics pieces together:

Lie both the lining and outer fabric on top of each other spread out so the right sides are touching. pin the top edges together, and down the sides if you want to hold the fabrics together better. Then sew along the edge making sure you've used your 1cm seam line. don't sew the tops of the straps closed.

Sewing sides together: 

This part is a bit tricky so do it slowly. Pin it together then turn the bag the right way to make sure its done correctly. I'm going to try and explain it as best as i can. after turning your bag the right way lie it down with the inner and outer spread out on either side and the straps in the middle, right side facing up. Then fold the bag so the side that has not been sewn yet (not the bottom of the bag) on the lining and outer are touching. Pin this edge and sew along it, remembering your 1cm.

Like this:

NEARLY THERE KEEP GOING

Base of the bag:

 This bit I had to make up so it will involve a bit of fiddling and just playing around to get the fit you want. Cut two rectangles of the same size in any fabric (preferable a thicker one). You may have to pin and repin, cut and recut this piece of fabric because i cant think of a way to measure it out.
Start with the innner, so if you make a mistake it wont make the final product look bad as it will be on the inside.

Turn your inner inside out, then grab your first rectangle. fold the rectangle in half horizontal, and put a pin as a marker on the fold line, either side to show you the middle. Unfold the fabric and place the now marked middle onto the bottom of each seam. pin in place. Make sire the rectangle fabrics right side is facing inwards. now just pin the bottom edge of the inner to rectangle and sew but not all the way. Leave the middle of a side unsewn. This is the place where you will turn the bag the right side.
So the same to the outer but sew all the way.
Some images of me doing the outer:
(showing marker pin and rectangular fabric)

 Turn the right way, using hole left in inner:

Now sew this hole closed neatly

Straps:

One of your straps fold inwards slightly, the slot the other inside of it. If one of your straps is narrower then use this one as the one to be slotted in.

Then sew them in place. If you have fancy stitches on your machine, then take this opportunity to show off.

DONE!

If you found it tricky stitching the base, then cheat and just do a running stitch along the base to seal them shut.