Insulated shopping bag
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This is a nice insulated shopping bag that’s pretty and lined. I found the tutorial at Sew4home.com, and I thought it seemed like an interesting way to put a bag together. I gave it a try, but when doing part of the lining, I decided that I preferred a different method. I included my way below.
This fabric is lively and springlike, and I’m sure most of us would like a little “spring” feeling long about now! It reminds me of fruits and veggies and going to the market. |
Supplies
(Click fabrics for direct links for purchase at Warehouse Fabrics Inc.)
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| I had 2/3 yard of the floral and 1 yard of the stripes. Also used 3 yards of webbing for the straps, a piece of quilter’s template plastic, Insul-Bright batting and a strip of Velcro. See the tutorial here for more information on amounts. |
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The pattern
| This project can be found at Sew4home.com |
The process
| I did the corners of my lining a little differently. It seemed to me that the method in the tutorial would leave either some funky corners sticking out on the bag bottom or a raw edge. Maybe I didn’t understand the directions correctly, but I did a minor change to ensure a nice finish inside the bag. Here’s what I did: | |
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The tutorial said to sew along the side seam, which is shown at left. I also sewed along the bottom (here, at the top of the photo) a little ways in from either side. Basically, leave enough of an open space to turn the bag through in a few steps. So now, instead of the whole bottom being open, it is partially closed on either corner. Snip off the corner within the seam allowance after sewing. |
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Here, I’m doing the same thing to the corner as the tutorial had us do for the outer bag. I have lined up the side seam and the bottom seam. The tutorial said we need to sew across so that the seam on this triangle is 6 inches long, so I am drawing a line here where it is 6 inches from edge to edge. |
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Sew across this line. |
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Although I don’t recall the tutorial instructing this, I chose to trim off the triangle. |
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Turn the bag right-side out. You’ll have this as the bottom of your lining. It’s got nicely finished edges and an opening. Turn the edges of the opening under 1/2″ and top stitch the opening closed. Tuck the lining into your bag. |
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I know it’s a busy print, but here is an image of the bag bottom with nice, neat corners and no raw edges. |
Other views
(Click for bigger views)
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