Yesterday, I made another bag that I can use when I am traveling. I am tempted to call it a 'half-yard bag' as you can easily make it with two quarter-yard scraps and some left-over quilt batting.
The outside is some silk fabric that I had in my closet (I can find things now!) and I lined the bag with some cotton that was also left over from another project. Since one of my resolutions for this coming year is to use up some of my stash, I expect that this is not the first 'Scrap Project' that you will be reading about.
The bag is so simple, it is silly. Cut two pieces of fabric the width that you would like the completed bag plus about an inch. Next, decide on the depth of bag you want to make, and if you want the top flap to cover part or all of the front of the bag. Based on this, cut the length of your two fabrics.
I decided that I wanted to play with my embroidery side of my Bernina so I put a motif on the front panel of my bag.
You need to have a clear idea of where you want a motif before you start to sew! This one was centered about three inches from the bottom of my outside fabric.
Once you have embellished the outside of the bag, it is a quick sewing task to sew the batting, outside and inside (good sides of fabric facing each other) together, leaving an opening to reverse the bag which you then sew closed after reversing. You could quilt the entire bag at this point, though I chose not to.
All that remains then is to align the bag so the overlap of the top flap is as you wish and then sew the two sides of the bag together. The sewing portion of this project took less than an hour.
I love my little bag. It will be perfect to store some of my neck scarves on my next trip!
It was really fairly simple to make and, once again, came out of my stash. The pattern is Bento Box. I had used it before to make a quilt for my son. This time I simply gathered some of my stack of random 'busy' pattern fabrics and then look for some solid color complements. You simply pair light and dark fabrics and then cut and sew.
