Tutorial: Big Zip Bag

Big zip bag tutorial. This bag has it all. Great fabric. Large for all the items you love. It stands up on its own. Oh, and a little pocket for your cellphone so you don’t lose it at the bottom of you purse and start to panic that it’s gone forever. Has that ever happened to you? Man, the panic that sets in after 20 seconds of searching through your bag…this bag solves that problem.

Okay, let us get started!

What you need

One Fabric: 12 squares that measure 8×8 inches
Two Fabric: 2 pieces of jean that measure 6×24 inches
Three Fabric: 2 pieces of cotton lining that measures 30×24 inches
2 pieces of interfacing that measures 30×24 inches
1 20 inch zipper
2 pieces of cotton webbing that measures 28 inches long
Four Fabric: 1 piece of fabric that measures 4×8 inches for the pocket
matching thread
machine
serger
iron
ironing board

Okay – first, gather all of your stuff.

Step One

Next, we’re going to serge the squares together. Each side will be 2×3, so 6 squares total. Similar to what we did in the runner tutorial, we’re going to top stitch these squares, too.

Nice and polished.

Once that’s done, pin the right side of the jean fabric to the bottom of the right side of the bag. Serge. Then, top stitch.

Step Two

Zipper ends. This trick of making the zipper ends nice and polished works so well. Visit the make-up bag tutorial if you need a step-by-step picture show.

Step Three

Now, before you attach the zipper to the bag you need to attach the interfacing to the lining fabric. This gives the bag more structure and in my case, made it so that you couldn’t see the orange star fabric though the beige outside fabric. That would have just looked bad!

Line up your zipper with the top of the bag and sandwich it between the outside and lining. Stitch. Do this to the other side, too.

Notice how neat the zipper looks? So awesome.

Oh, and how that little pop of colour on the inside is a bit of a treat. So fun.

Step Four

Okay – pocket time.

First, serge all edges of the pocket. Now, fold the all edges in 1/2 an inch and top stitch. Pin the pocket in place and stitch it to only the lining, top stitching over what you’ve already top stitched, but leave the top edge open.

See – it’s only attached to the lining. Nice work.

Step Five

Open the zipper a bit. Lay the bag out right sides of the lining together and right sides of the outside together. Serge.

Leave a bit of an opening – about 3-4 inches – open at the bottom of the lining. This will allow you to turn the bag right side out. Don’t do that yet, though.

Step Six

Before you turn the bag, we’re going to box the corners. Measure 4 inches across and serge. be sure to line up the seams well. Notice how polished (man, I use that word a lot in sewing tutorials, eh?…but it’s so true!) it looks. The corners look so good, too.

The boxed corners will help the bag stand on it’s own.

Step Seven

Now, pin that opening closed and ladder or top stitch it closed. We have a handless bag. Oh, how close we are!

Step Eight

Grab the cotton webbing and be sure each piece is 28 inches long.

Zip your bag up and measure 2 inches inward from the side seam and 1 inch down from the zipper.

Make a mark with chalk.

Fold the cotton webbing under 1 inch and line up the bottom with the chalk mark you just made.

Stitch in a X and make a box around it. This will keep it secure. You’ll be stitching through the lining, too.

Do this on both sides, on all 4 ends of the straps…and you’re done!

Done

I love the lining. It’s loud, so having it on the inside is perfect. Not too showy, yet it’ll make you smile from time to time when you’re searching for something other than your cellphone.

Happy shopping…or reading if you’re going to fill it with books. Or you could even use it as a weekend bag. That’s on my list of things to make, a good boxy weekend bag.

See you again soon. Happy sewing.