the tag along bag. . . . a tutorial!

 congratulations to the two winners of the tag along bag giveaway from friday’s post!!
shelly m. & cynthia t.

if you’d like to purchase a custom tag along bag,
please contact me at marineparents.shop@gmail.com!!

♥ ♥ ♥

last weekend, i made up a quick little bag to store some little necessities for amelia in the car.  an extra pair of clothes [for accidents], wipes, tissues, sunblock & a pair of shades.   i was sewing just for fun when i had a few extra minutes to myself, which is practically unheard of –*wink!

i posted a picture of the new bag on instagram & got such a fun feedback [& some spur of the moment sales!] that i decided to write up a tutorial for anyone wanting to make up one of their own!

fire up your machine & heat the iron…. it’s time to sew!

the tag along bag takes very little fabric to make — you can even piece together some smaller pieces for a quilted look if you have a huge pile of scraps like me!

materials needed::
♥ 1/2 yard of quilting weight fabric [i chose three different prints for a total of 1/2 yard]
♥ 10 x 10 inch square of fusible interfacing [medium weight]
♥ 12 inch zipper

– all seams are sewn at 1/4″ throughout the tutorial.

cut two pieces of lining fabric [the green polka dot for my bag] to 10.5″ x 10.5″.  set aside.

cut one piece of fabric for the wristlet strap to 14″ x 4″.  set aside.

choose your exterior pieces & cut two pieces of the first print 10.5″ wide x 7″ tall.  next, cut two pieces of your second print 10.5″ wide x 4″ tall.

lay one 4″ tall piece on top of one 7″ tall piece and sew across lengthwise, backstitching at the beginning & end to hold your stitch.  make sure that you lay your fabric so that the print faces correctly when you flip it back open!

do this for the other set of exterior fabrics.

press out the seams flat on both pieces & interface your fabric according the interfacing directions.  you can top stitch your pieces at this point if you’d like.

now we add the zipper!

#1 – lay one piece of exterior fabric down, right side facing up.  lay the zipper with the zip pull on the left FACE DOWN on the fabric.

#2 – line up one piece of lining fabric & lay it down on top of the exterior fabric & zipper wrong side up [so that the pretty sides of the fabrics are facing each other].

#3 – pin in place & stitch along the zipper, backstitching at the beginning & end to hold your stitch.

#4 – flip the fabrics around the zipper so it looks like you have half a pouch [zipper at top, both pretty sides of the fabric facing out].  lay the second exterior piece down, place the zipper FACE DOWN with the zip pull facing the right, lay down the last piece of lining fabric wrong side facing up.  sew across the zipper, backstitching at the beginning & end to hold your stitch.

[if you are having trouble with adding the zipper in.... here is a fantastic, detailed tutorial by one of my favorite seamstresses of all time!]

open the bag up & press out the zipper so that everything lays nice & flat.  be sure to press the lining pieces as well.  you can topstitch close to the zipper if you’d like at this point.

#1 – make the wristlet strap.

#2 – take your 14″ x 4″ piece of fabric, fold & press in half.

#3 – open it up & fold/press each side in towards the middle.

#4 – press it all down again.  stitch along the strap lengthwise to close it up.

flip around your fabrics so that the exterior pieces are facing each other, the lining pieces are facing each other & the zipper is sandwiched in the middle.  you want all the wrong sides to be facing out, pretty sides facing each other on the inside.

pin all the way around [use as many pins as you need!] and unzip the zipper half way so that you can reverse the bag later! don’t forget to unzip the zipper!!! DON’T FORGET! :]

pin the wristlet strap between the two exterior pieces with just a little of the ends sticking out.

pay close attention to matching up the pieced portions on the exterior pieces.  this will make your bag look nice & neat — but don’t stress too much about perfection.  we are making handmade here, friends!  imperfection is a wonderful thing to embrace.  ♥

stitch around the bag.  leave a 3-4 inch gap along the top of the lining pieces to turn the bag right side out later.

when you get to a corner, drop your needle, lift the presser foot & pivot the fabric.  then keep sewing :]

trim off the excess zip ends & wristlet strap pieces left over.

when you’ve sewn up the whole bag [except that 3-4 inch gap, don't forget!!], slide your hand inside the bag & make a V with your fingers to form a triangle out of each corner.  this is for the boxed/flat bottom of the bag so it can stand on it’s own!

sew along the corner you just made, backstitching at the beginning & end to hold your stitch.  do this for all four corners of the bag [two on the exterior, two on the lining].

trim off the excess fabric from the corners you just sewed.

turn the bag rightside out through the small gap you left in the lining fabric, stitch the lining closed & stuff the lining down inside the exterior.

and hello!!!!

you have your own cute little tag along bag to carry whatever you or your little one wants!

i know there are quite a few steps & lots of pictures [hopefully that helped some of you!], but this is actually a quick nap-time project.  please feel free to leave any questions in the comments & i’ll answer them for everyone to see :]

&& if you like this fun project, please feel free to share it via Facebook, Twitter or Facebook!