Bag #50: Easy Quilted Envelope Bag

Last week I made a pattern for an envelope bag, but this is a much easier version.  I made mine out of quilting cotton and used a magnetic clasp to close it.  However, it could be made of any fabric and doesn’t need to be quilted.  Instead of a magnetic clasp, it could be closed with two pieces of ribbon or a loop of elastic on the flap and a button on the bag front. I put some knitting needles and yarn in the bag but it could be used for anything.  All you need is one fabric for the inside and one for the outside plus wadding/interfacing. I might make another one out of faux leather, adding a shoulder strap and without the quilting.

It is best to use non-directional fabric or either the bag or the flap will have an upside down pattern. 

This method could be used for any size envelope bag and takes hardly any time to make, especially if it is not quilted.  The finished size is 11½”/29 cm wide, 10”/25.5 cm high and ½”/12 mm deep.

You would need a fat quarter of each fabric to make this bag, as well as wadding (I used quilt batting which is nice and soft) and a medium weight interfacing. I used the mannequin fabric for the outside of the bag and the tape measure fabric for the lining.

Skill level: Easy, especially if the bag is not quilted and a button/elastic closure is used.

I used my normal stitch length (2.5) throughout but increased it to 3 for top stitching and I used ¼”/6 mm seams.  However when sewing the final 2 seams to make the front of the envelope, I found that the seams were really thick, so I changed to a jeans needle and used a stitch length of 4, taking it very slowly.

I have included metric and imperial measurements but they are not exactly interchangeable, so you should stick to either one or the other.

Skills used in this project:

• Free motion embroidery

• Keeping it simple

Step 1: Cutting out

Cut out the following:

18” x 18”/46 cm x 46 cm (cut 1 outer fabric, 1 lining, 1 medium weight interfacing, 1 wadding)

1 magnetic clasp (or other closure e.g. elastic and button)

Step 2: Attaching the magnetic clasp / other closure

Attach the interfacing to the wrong side of the lining. 

The thinner side of the magnetic fastener needs to be attached to the right side of the lining where it will end up on the inside of the flap. I placed it centrally with the middle of the fastener about 2”/5 cm from one of the corners.  

Here is a photo from a previous bag to show how the magnetic clasp
should look on the reverse side of the fabric -
I find that turning the legs out makes the clasp more stable

I used a small off cut of bag foam on the wrong side of the lining to give it extra stability.   Make 2 holes in the lining/interfacing and foam, push the ‘legs’ through from the right side of the lining, through the foam and the washer and open them outwards to secure.

Attach the wadding to the wrong side of the outer fabric. I pinned mine.

Attach the thicker side of the fastener to the right side of the outer fabric.   I positioned mine about 2½”/6 cm from one of the corners.

Alternatively, for an easier option, attach a loop of elastic to one corner which will be the flap.  Make sure the loop faces inwards when you sew all the pieces together (below).  You can then sew a button onto the lower front when the bag is complete.

Step 3: Joining all the pieces

Place the lining and outer fabric, right sides together, and the two parts of the magnetic clasp at opposite corners. Sew all round, leaving a gap for turning near to the magnetic clasp which is on the outer fabric.

Trim the corners and cut the wadding back as close to the stitching as you can.

Turn through, pin the gap closed and press.  There is no need to sew up the gap at this stage.

Step 4: Quilting (optional)

The two parts of the clasp are on opposite corners.

Machine quilt through all layers of the fabric. You could sew horizontal and vertical rows using the general purpose foot and the feed dogs up, or you could put the feed dogs down, use an embroidery foot and do free motion embroidery.  I sewed random curves using free motion embroidery.

Step 5: Assembling the bag

The lining side is facing out.
The magnetic clasp on the outer fabric is on the inside in the top right hand corner.

With right sides (outer fabric) together, fold one of the sides so that the corner meet.  You need to match the corner with the magnetic clasp on the outer fabric with one of the corners with no clasp. The photos should make this clearer. Sew along this seam.

Do the same with the other corner which doesn’t have a clasp.  

Turn the bag right sides out.  Hey presto, it's finished!  Wasn't that easy?

In this project I learnt:

• I used free motion embroidery to quilt the bag. I’m getting better at it but my stitch length is still all over the place.  I really enjoy it and every time I do it, I have good intentions to practise more, but finding the time is so difficult.  When this year’s challenge is up and I stop making so many bags, it’s one of the things on my ‘to do’ list.

• It was fun to do an easy bag this week.  I couldn’t decide whether to quilt the outer fabric and then add the lining, but in the end I decided to join all the layers and then quilt it as that was simpler.  I was tempted to join some fabrics so that the front and back were different colours but I forced myself to keep it as simple as I could.  I’m glad I did because it still looks good.