Thursday, October 11, 2012

It's EaSy As...

As promised... here is a tutorial on how to make my version of a small
Sewing Carry-All.
You will need:  main fabric, lining fabric, light to medium interfacing, batting, felt, 20mm wide elastic and 60-65cm of ribbon.
Make the template...
1. Grab a piece of paper or thin cardboard - I used A4 computer printer paper.
2. Make the following line drawings. Using the short edge of paper, measure out 4.5 inches and draw a vertical line. Then measure out a further 6 inches and draw another vertical line.
3. From the bottom long edge of paper measure up 7 - 7.5 inches and draw a parallel line across the paper. This line should intersect with the vertical lines drawn in step 2.
4. Now measure up from bottom edge 3.5 inches on the second line and mark it with an X.
5. Make an arc (with a small plate) from the intersection and the X.
6. Write FOLD along the short edge of paper.
This is what the paper/cardboard should look like...
and then cut away shaded area...
Now we can...
7. Cut (on fold of fabric) 1 x outside MAIN fabric and 1 x inside LINING fabric.
8. Cut 2 x interfacing (can be either iron on or not).
9. Cut one piece of batting approx 6.5 x 8 inches.
Get ready to sew...
10. Cut 1 x 2.5in square of felt... I used pinking shears to pretty my piece...
11. Centre the felt on right side of lining approx 3/4inch down from top edge... and sew the felt to the lining fabric using one row of stitches around outside edge.
12. Cut elastic approx 8.5 inches in length and place in centre at approx 2.5 inches from bottom edge. Turn under ends of elastic and stitch to lining securely. Stitch 3- 4 divisions - spacing evenly between ends.
 Putting it together...
13. Place batting on wrong side of main fabric, centered vertically and horizontally and outside of top and bottom seam allowance. Stitch down both sides vertically from top of FABRIC to bottom of FABRIC.

14. Place 1 interfacing on table then main fabric (right side up), then lining (right side down) then other interfacing... pin and sew a 1/4 in seam all round outside... leaving a 4 inch gap open for turning right side out along bottom edge.
15. Clip curve with pinking shears and cut away points on corners.

16. Turn right side out making sure you poke out all corners and seams. Press flat and nice and square. Stitch gap closed neatly.
17. When satisfied with ironing, top stitch along one curve then across top edge and around other curve ONLY... see diagram..


18. Fold one edge over (creasing from point where curve starts) and press flat with fingers. Stitch short edge through ALL layers.
19. Center and lay the ribbon across the back. Fold over other edge like before. Line up ribbon so that it is level with the top of the folded over sections.
20. Stitch along the folded edge through ALL layers including the ribbon.
21. Stitch all layers together along the bottom edge.
22. Tri-fold and tie to close.

If you are giving this carry-all as a gift... 
                 why not fill it with all sorts of useful items.

I hope you can follow my instructions and enjoy making this nice and easy small sewing carry-all. Since I started making this tut I came across the original site I found the instructions on. I always like to give credit where credit is due... so hip hip hooray for "You Sew Girl" blog.

12 comments:

Narelle said...

Thanks for sharing this ... looks good :o)

Sheila said...

Thanks Cheryll , great tutorial , will have to give this a try .

Jeanette said...

Thanks Cheryll. Look forward to making this. Hugs,

Kate said...

This is brilliant! Thanks for writing such a good tute and for sharing it.

Anthea said...

That's a really great tutorial Cheryll, thanks! and what a handy gift indeed. I had never thought of using pinking shears for that use, much easier than normal scissors.
PS the link to the original site is not working

Cheryll said...

Thanks Anthea... all fixed!

Michelle Ridgway said...

Thank you Cheryll. Just great. Such a lovely little gift to make.

Quilt Kitty said...

Brilliant Cheryll - thanks so much! Tracee xx

Unknown said...

Thanks for the tutorial. Sharyn:)

Maria said...

What a great idea Cheryll! Thank you so much for sharing it :-)

De said...

Hopefully I will get to make one up over the weekend! Thanks for a great tutorial!

Kaylee said...

Thank you for the tutorial Cheryll, it looks great for gifts, I will definitely make some of these.