Bag #27: Duffel Bag

I wanted to make an old fashioned duffel bag this week.  You hardly ever see them now but they used to be really popular – in old films, sailors used to carry them.  I have seen bags labelled as duffel bags but they are really just holdalls, not the real thing.  What I like about duffel bags is that they look great whether you are carrying a lot in them or a small amount as the bag can expand or contract due to its shape and versatile closure.

I had a duffel bag as a teenaged which I loved.  It had a drawstring channel for the cord which also served as the strap.  However, a cord strap is really uncomfortable when carrying a heavy bag – it cuts into your shoulder – so that was a no no. Duffel bags aren’t usually lined, nor do they usually have wadding or foam.  This is a luxury version!

As a homage to its sailor origins, I decided to use a seaside fabric.  I shall probably use when I go to the beach (weather permitting) this summer which makes it doubly appropriate.

I wanted a firm base which retained its circular shape but softer sides.  To create this, I used bag foam for the base and a low loft wadding for the sides.  When using the contrast fabric, I wanted a stabiliser which would give the fabric a bit more strength without bulk so I used a medium interfacing. 

Usually, if I want to fuse the interfacing/foam/wadding, I buy a fusible version, but I decided to try using some non-fusible products but fuse them using a spray on fabric glue.  This worked well if you ignore my mistake at the start when I used a spray designed for paper by mistake.  The cans all look so similar!!  Luckily I realised in time or I could have damaged my sewing machine.  I tried both permanent and temporary glues and they both did what it said on the tin, so I was very pleased with them.  It also enabled me to use up some existing fabrics from my stash rather than spend more on new interfacing.

The eyelets need to be slightly bigger than the rope/cord.  I chose 12mm cotton rope and 14mm eyelets, but smaller ones would work just as well.  The seaside fabric is an upholstery cotton.  I used a plain cream cotton for the lining and the contrast fabric was a linen look cotton.

I needed a yard/metre of the outer fabric and lining, but only about half a metre of the contrast fabric.  I also had enough fabric left over for make another small bag – a mini duffel would be fun to make.

I had to rack my brains to remember how to work out the circumference of a circle.  Believe me, school maths lessons were a very long time ago. In the end, Mr Google helped. Anyway, you multiply the diameter (the distance across the circle at the widest point) by 3.14 (π).

The finished size is 19” high by 12” wide (approx. 48 cm x 30 cm)

I used my normal stitch length (2.5) throughout but increased it to 3 for topstitching. Most of the sewing was done using my normal stitch foot but I used the zip foot to get close to the piping cord when sewing around the circle.

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:

• Using eyelets

• Using a range of stabilisers to create different effects

• Using fabric glue to make fusible fabric

Step 1: Cutting out

Cut out the following:

12”/30cm diameter Circular base (cut 1 outer fabric, 1 lining, 1 bag foam)

18” x 38¼” /46cm x 95.5 cm Side panel (cut 1 outer fabric, 1 lining, 1 medium        interfacing/wadding – the 18”/46cm is the height, if using a directional fabric)

4½” x 38 ¼”/ 11.5cm x 95.5 cm Eyelet panel (1 contrast fabric, 1 medium interfacing)

4½” x 5”/ 11.5 cm x 12 cm Cord holder (1 contrast fabric, 1 medium interfacing)

8” x 30”/ 20cm x 76 cm Strap (1 contrast fabric, 1 medium interfacing)

¾”/ 18mm bias binding to match lining (cut at 45º from selvedge of fabric)

2” x 39”/ 5 cm x 48 cm bias strip of contrast fabric to cover piping cord 

38”/95 cm length of ¼”/6mm piping cord

60”/ 150 cm length of ½”/12 mm Cotton rope

8 x ⅝”/14 mm Eyelets

Step 2: Making the piping

Join any short strips of bias cut fabric by overlapping them at right angles, sewing diagonally across.  Trim these seams and press them open.

Fold the bias strip of contrast fabric over the piping cord so that the raw edges meet.  At the start, fold the end under and leave a gap of about ½” or just over 1 cm before the piping cord begins.  Do not sew along this part of the piping yet.  Using a zip foot, sew close to the piping along the rest of the piping cord.  

I usually cut the fabric back along the whole length so that it measures about ¼”/ 6mm from the piping and this will match the seam allowance, but this is not essential.

Step 3: Attaching the piping to the base

Prepare the circular base by fusing the wrong side of the outer fabric to one side of the base and the wrong side of the lining to the other side of the base.  This will make a sandwich with the foam in the middle and the right sides of both fabric facing out.  If not using fusible foam, use spray on fabric glue for adhesion.

Pin the piping to the outer fabric side of the base with the raw edges of the piping matching the raw edges of the base.  When the piping is pinned all the way round, insert the end into the gap left at the beginning, trimming to size so that there is no gap in the cord.  Sew all the way round.

  

Step 4: Making/Attaching the strap

  

Attach the interfacing to the wrong side of the contrast fabric.  Fold in half lengthways so that the interfacing is on the inside and press, then fold the edges in lengthways so that it looks like bias binding.  Press.  Topstitch along the long open side close to the edge and then along the other long side.  

Sew one end of the strap to the right side of the base with the raw edge at the end of the strap facing out.  This goes over the piping. 

Step 5: Making/attaching the sides

Attach the wadding to the wrong side of the outer fabric side panel.  With right sides together, sew the shorter sides together. 

With right sides together, sew the shorter sides of the lining together.

Place the lining inside the outer fabric side panel, wrong sides together, matching the side seam.  Pin to hold them together.

Pin so that the bottom edge (one of the long edges of the side panel) is attached to the right side of the base (the outer fabric side) over the piping.  The lining and outer fabric of the side panel are attached to the base at the same time with a single row of stitching.  Sew all round.

Step 6: Neatening the internal seams

Trim the edge of the foam base all the way round to reduce bulk.

 

Using bias binding, attach one side of the binding to one side of the base’s raw edge all the way round as shown in the photo.  Fold the binding over the raw edge and sew the other side in place all the way round.

I made my own bias binding by cutting strips of fabric at 45º and then pulling them through a bias binding tool.

   

Step 7: Making the eyelet panel

Attach the interfacing to the wrong side of the eyelet panel. 

Join the side seams (the short sides) right sides together.

Place the eyelet panel over the top of the side panel, right sides together, side seams matching.  Sew all round to attach and press so that the seam is closed and facing towards the top of the eyelet panel.

Fold the top of the eyelet panel under by ¼”/ 6mm and press.

Fold the top of the eyelet panel in half all the way round so that it turns in towards the lining.  

Pin it so that it just overlaps the join with the side panel and hides the seam. 

Top stitch all the way round the top and bottom edges of the eyelet panel.

Step 8: Attaching the strap holder

Decide how long you want the strap.  Cut off any remaining fabric.  This will be used for the strap holder. It needs to be just a little longer than the strap is wide to allow for room to sew it in place.  Trim as necessary. 

Position it just below the eyelet panel above where the strap is attached to the base of the bag (see image at the start of this post). It needs to be positioned horizontally with the raw edges at the sides turned under.  Make sure that there is sufficient room for the strap to pass through.  Sew down each side to attach.  

Pass the strap through the strap holder before progressing to the next step.

Step 9: Attaching the other end of the strap

Turn the raw edge of the strap under and, making sure that it is not twisted, sew near to the top of the bag on the side opposite where the other end is attached. Sewing a line of stitches in a box/rectangular shape will ensure added strength.

Step 10: Inserting the eyelets

Decide where the 8 eyelets will go on the eyelet panel and mark the position.  I chose the position of the first one and folded the top of the bag in half to find the opposite position, then in half again to find where the next 2 should go and the final 4 were half way between each of these marks.

Attach the eyelets according to the instructions on the pack.  This will involve making a hole and then sandwiching the fabric between the two parts of the eyelet which is then gently banged into place.

Thread the rope through the eyelets.

Step 11: Making the cord holder

  

Attach the interfacing to wrong side of the contrast fabric. Fold the fabric, right sides together so that the slightly shorter sides meet.  Sew along a short side and long side to join. Pull half the fabric through the open side so the wrong sides are now together.  This forms a sleeve to hold the ends of the rope in place. Turn the remaining raw edges in towards the wrong side of the fabric.  Hand sew to close the seam. Sew a line of stitches down the centre from the top of the sleeve to the bottom.  Thread the ends of the rope through and knot them.

   

In this project I learnt:

• I have used eyelets before on several occasions but they still make me nervous.  In fact, I bought 50 eyelets even though I only needed 8 and I designed this bag with a separate eyelet panel so that, if anything went wrong, I could just replace the whole panel.  Perhaps I was overcautious because it all went smoothly.  I had a practise on some scraps of fabric before moving onto the bag itself.  I have a tendency to rush the last few stages in bag making because I get impatient for the finished bag.  With this task, I took my time and luckily the eyelets all went on easily.

• I don’t think I have ever used such a wide range of stabilisers to create different effects.  I knew exactly what I wanted and searched through my stash to find the most suited for the job.  Bag foam is always best for a firm yet padded shape. Wadding or fleece gives a soft but fluid shape.  I had a double sided fusible wadding which I bought by mistake thinking it was only fusible on one side.  I don’t have much need for it, so I was pleased to be able to use most of it up.  Once the sides were attached, I pressed them and the wadding welded to the outer and lining.  I found a black sew-in interfacing which I had picked up in a sale somewhere.  It seemed like a good idea at the time, but in practice I usually use pale colours so the black is rarely used.  It was medium weight which was just what I needed and the black worked well behind the dark blue contrast fabric.  At the start of the year, I wouldn’t have understood the different uses of all of these, so this project is helping me to become a better sewist.  It is also making me try different techniques which I’m really enjoying.

• I have never used spray on fabric glue to make fusible interfacings/wadding because I usually buy what I need for a project.  This glue enables me to use up what I already have.  It’s quite expensive but worth every penny.  I have both temporary and permanent and used both in this bag.  I used the permanent to attach the bag foam to the outer and lining fabrics.  I actually had some fusible foam but decided to try this and use up a left over bit of foam.  It did the job well (after the first attempt when I used a non-fabric adhesive spray by mistake).  I used temporary adhesive with the black interfacing because it was being sewn in and just needed to be held in place during assembly.  They both worked well, but I’m going to move my fabric glues to a different cupboard so that I will never again mix up fabric and card glue.  Just the thought of the potential damage to my lovely sewing machine brings me out in a cold sweat!

Bag #23: Handy Scrap Bag

I really needed a bag to carry all my sewing essentials around the house.  The problem is that I don't have a sewing room.  My sewing machine is in the bedroom, the iron is on the landing and I cut out my fabrics downstairs in the lounge.  That means I am constantly carrying scissors, tape measure, marking pen, etc. up and downstairs from room to room.  This bag is just the right size to carry these and it has a comfortable strap which hangs across the body like a messenger bag.

Like most sewists, I never throw scrap fabric away because I know it will come in useful at some point in the future.  However, my scrap bag was becoming really full and it was time to start using it up.  What's nice about this bag is the fact that it's a constant reminder of other pleasurable projects; when I see the blue fabric I remember my patchwork quilt, the red fabric was used in a craft bag. It's also good to know that no one will have a bag the same as mine.  My fabrics were mostly quilting cotton but it would look great in a mix of fabrics to add texture.

It took ages to sew all the scraps together although I enjoyed doing it.  Crazy patchwork involves sewing around an uneven five sided shape.  There wasn't a centre shape here which was why I called it 'insane patchwork'.  It's just random fabrics joined together in any way that they would fit. The bag itself was quick to assemble.  It could have many uses, one of which would be as a money bag at craft fairs.   

I've done paper piecing once before and really enjoyed it, although it took a while to get my head round the fact that everything is back to front.

I used my normal stitch length of 2.5 but increased it to 3 when assembling the bag.

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:

• Insane patchwork
• Paper piecing

Step 1: Assembling the resources

You will need the following:

9½" x 8½" (24cm x 21.5 cm) bag back (create 2 pieces of insane patchwork from scraps and cut 1 double sided fusible wadding)

7" x 8½" (18cm x 21.5cm) middle pocket (create 2 pieces of insane patchwork from scraps and cut 1 double sided fusible wadding)

4¾" x 4½" (12cm x 11.5cm) front pocket (create 2 paper pieced sections, cut 2 or create 2 for the backing and cut 1 double sided fusible wadding)

You will also need:

2" x 79" (5cm x 160cm) fabric for binding 

(if buying readymade binding, you will need 1" (2.5cm) width.  This does not need to be cut on the bias as all the edges are straight.

1" x 49"  (2.5cm x 125cm) webbing for strap (although check how long you would like the cross body strap to be)

Paper pattern for the paper piecing

Step 2: Making the insane patchwork fabric

The insane patchwork is created by joining lots of small pieces of fabric together in a random pattern.  Do this for both sides of the middle pocket and both sides of the back.

Take your first two fabric scraps, place them right sides together and sew along one side.  Press the seam open.  Trim the edge where you intend to join the next piece of fabric so that it forms a straight line.  Sew the next piece of fabric to one of the edges of your work, right sides together.  Keep adding more and more fabric until you have created a large enough piece of fabric.  Trim to size. 

As the piece of fabric grows larger, you will need larger pieces of fabric to sew along a whole edge.  To do this, join several pieces to make one larger piece, then join that to your existing patchwork.

Trim to size.

Step 3: Paper piecing

Paper piecing pattern

Using your paper pattern, sew scraps of fabric to the reverse side of the paper with wrong sides of the fabric against the paper. When all the sewing has been completed, gently tear the paper away from the wrong side of the fabric and you will be left with your pieced fabric image. The technique is the same for the tree and the house, or design your own pattern - anything with straight edges will work.

Sew the fabric to the paper in number order.

  

First of all, sew the tree trunk (piece 1) to one of the plain side pieces (piece 2).  Place the fabric right sides together on the back of the pattern and sew along the line of the side of the trunk through the paper and fabric.  Trim the seam so that it is no more than ¼"/6mm and press both fabrics flat with right sides facing away from the paper.Next, lay the other plain side piece over the tree trunk, right sides together and sew along the other side of the tree trunk.  Trim the seam and press.

    

Continue to add fabric in the order stated on the pattern until the image is complete, then tear the paper away (the stitches perforate the paper so it should come away fairly easily).

  

After sewing the paper pieced house, draw 4 windows and a door and sew around them either by hand or machine.  I used embroidery thread and sewed them by hand using backstitch. 

Trim them to size so that they measure 4¾ high" x 4½ (12cm x 11.5cm) across".  Join them together to create the front pocket by sewing them, right sides together down one of the slightly longer sides.

Step 4: Attaching the wadding

Place the wadding between the 2 front pocket pieces of fabric so that the right sides of the fabric are facing outwards.  Press.  If you do not have double-sided fusible wadding, you could use a fabric adhesive spray such as Stick and Stay with any low loft (thin) wadding or fleece.

Do the same for the middle pocket and also for the back.

Step 5: Making the binding

Using 2"/5cm strips of fabric, fold them in half lengthways to find the centre.  Fold the edges in so that it looks like bias binding and press.

Attach the binding to the top edge of the front pocket.

Do this by sewing the binding with the right side of the binding against the front of your pocket.  Match the raw edges and sew along the fold.  

     

Fold the binding over the edge of the fabric/wadding and hand sew it down on the other side so that it just covers the stitch line.

Do the same for the top edge of the middle pocket.

Trim any excess binding from the side edges.

Step 6: Assembling the pockets

Match the bottom raw edge of the front and middle pocket and sew down the centre to create 2 small pockets.

Sew around the side and bottom edges, very close to the edge to hold all the pieces firmly in place.

Step 7:  Attaching the binding around the outside edges

Pin the pockets to the back so that the bottom and sides meet.

Pin the binding to the front all the way round.  Fold the initial raw edge over so that it will be hidden when sewn in place. 

       

The corners can be mitred for a neat finish when sewing with one long strip of binding, or alternatively, 4 separate strips of binding can be sewn, one along each edge with ends turned under.  To achieve a mitred corner, stop sewing about ¼"/6mm before the end.  Turn the fabric slightly so that you finish stitching diagonally towards the corner.  Remove the fabric from the machine and re-position it so that you are ready to sew the next edge but start about ¼"/6mm in from the edge. The binding should be turned so that it forms a fold which runs parallel to the edge which has just been sewn. Do this for each corner. Turn the binding over the raw edge and hand sew it in place on the reverse as you did for the pockets.

Step 6: Attaching the strap

To attach the webbing, fold the end under by about 1"/2.5cm and place the webbing on the back of the bag so that the raw edge is hidden under the webbing.  Sew a 1"/2.5cm square to secure the strap.  Do the same for the other side, making sure that the webbing isn't twisted.

You now have a unique bag which cost virtually nothing to make!

In this project I learnt:

• I had fun building my insane patchwork fabric.  I had to keep trimming the shapes to ensure that I was working with straight lines.  Having a rotary cutter made this job so much quicker.  If I was making a quilt, I would sew the scraps to a piece of foundation fabric which would stabilise the individual pieces and prevent any twisting or puckering which can often happen when many of the edges are on the bias.  However, that wasn't really necessary for this bag as I wasn't after a particularly neat effect.

• I love the look of paper piecing.  It looks so complicated and clever and yet it's so easy to do.  I forgot to embroider the windows and door on the house and didn't remember until after I had attached the wadding.  This means that the back of the embroidery is visible in the pocket.  That wasn't what I wanted but no one's going to see it so it doesn't matter too much.