Butterick B4822 – Final part

STEP 4: ATTACHING THE LINING AND FINISHING THE BAG

Hello! Today we’re going to cover steps 12-16 of our bag instructions, plus we're going to make casings for the bag handles. Are you ready?

To start, grab one of your lining pieces and place it on the bag. To that end, align the top edge of one side the bag with the top edge of the lining, right sides together. Here I will sew the lining piece that has the pocket with the back of the bag. That is just my personal preference and you can do it any way you want.

Stitch the bag and the lining together, like this.

Press the seam towards the lining. Then turn over the bag to the right side and edgestitch the lining very close to the seam, like this.

Take some time to admire your professional work. :-)

Repeat all these steps with the other piece of lining and attach it to the other side of the bag. We are not going to sew the linings yet... First we're going to make the casings for the handles. We're going to start with one side of the bag first. Place the bag pattern piece #2 on the wrong side of your bag and mark the location of the fold of the casing with disappearing ink.

Also, use 2 pins to mark the location of the casing seam.

Now fold so that the pins meet.

The casing should be 1 1/2" wide. Unfortunately, this is too wide for me to be able to use my magnetic seam guide on my sewing machine. But here's a little trick: Place a ruler in the middle of your presser foot and measure 1 1/2" from there. Use a post-it note to mark this distance...

... and use that post-it note as a seam guide.

Repeat these same steps on the other side of the bag and now are casings are done!

Now we're going to sew the lining. Pin the two lining pieces, right sides together...

...and stitch. Remember to leave an opening on the bottom so you can turn the bag inside out!

Turn the bag inside out and slipstitch the opening in the lining to close it. Look how nice it looks! Of course, now the lining is outside, so When you're done push it in to turn the bag inside out again.

Now we need to take care of those seam allowances. They need to be closed in order to finish the bag. I'm not sure if you can see where those red arrows point, if you can't click on the picture to see a larger version. This is a problem because those inner seams are way too high for me to be able to even open the bag once it's ready. So I whipped up my seam ripper (see now where the name of my blog comes from??) and opened those seams until they matched the outer ones (marked with a green arrow).

Now you will have to slipstitch the front seam allowance to the back seam allowance on each side. You will have to do this twice per side, beginning at the bottom of the casing.  Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture during the process, but hopefully this photo will help you get an idea of what the final product looks like. Do you see the area marked by the green arrow? That is a stress point in this bag. This means that the fabric may tear from opening the bag too many times, so you will need to handstitch this area over and over a few times to reinforce it and prevent tearing.

Yay! You're done with the body of the bag! Now let's install those handles. Slide them through those awesome casings you just sewed.

Now glue them back with a tiny bit of glue. My favorite is Gorilla Glue, but there are other glues you can use as well. If you use Gorilla remember that a tiny bit goes a long way! So go easy. Once you put glue on the handles you can use some painter's tape as a clamp. Wrap it tight around the whole handle as well as the opening. After a few hours, the glue is dry and the handles are ready to go! Slide the glued portion of the handle back inside the casing so it will be out of sight.

And we're done!! Now go ahead and make yourself a nice bag.

I really hope you found this tutorial useful. Don't forget to leave me any comments, questions, etc. I would love to hear how your bag turned out!

My next project will be the popular Schoolhouse Tunic! Stay tuned!!

Butterick B4822 – Part 3

STEP 3: MAKING AND ATTACHING THE LINING POCKET

Hi everyone! Today we’re going to cover steps 9-11 of the bag instructions. I would like to apologize in advance that my pics are a little smaller today, Blogger is just not cooperating! :-(

Fold your pocket (pattern piece 3) in half crosswise, right sides together, and stitch. You need to leave an opening on the bottom in order to turn the pocket inside out later. My opening is about 3-4 inches long and I marked it with red arrows. The pattern doesn't tell you to do this, but clip the corners before turning the pocket, like I did, to reduce bulk! The black arrows show you how I clipped the corners. Do NOT cut through your stitches! :-)

Turn the pocket right side out and use a pointy instrument to push the corners out. At this point the pattern instructs you to slipstitch the opening, but you don't need to do this! You will close the opening when you attach the pocket to the lining. I'll show you how to do this when we get to that step. Turn in the seam allowance from the opening and press your pocket really well.

Now you need to mark and make the darts. Place your pattern piece on the pocket and use pins to mark the location of the darts on the pocket.

Lift the pattern piece and mark the holes made by the pins with disappearing ink.

To make the darts, connect the two bottom markings of each dart and fold as I show you below. Pin the darts. The pattern tells you to stitch the darts but I opted not to do that.

Now place pattern piece 4 (lining) on the right side of one of your lining pieces. Those three circles at the top show you where the pocket should be placed. Mark the pocket placement with pins and disappearing ink just like you did with the pocket darts.

Remove pattern piece 4 and pin the pocket to the lining. As you can see I goofed and placed the darts on the right instead of on the left. No biggie.

Starting on the top right side of the pocket, stitch it all around the sides and the bottom. You obviously don't stitch it on the top, otherwise you wouldn't have a pocket! :-) As you stitch, you will also close the opening, so you kill two birds with a stone.

Now you need to stitch from top to bottom to make two compartments in the pocket. To make sure that this seam is straight, press the centermost dart fold down and pin it near the top of the pocket. Now take a look at the red arrow. I aligned the right side of my presser foot with this fold. Stitch close to the fold all the way to the bottom of the pocket.

This is how your pocket looks after you're done. Isn't it pretty?

I tried to be as clear as possible, but I may have goofed somewhere, so please ask me any questions!

The next step is to attach the lining to the bag. Stay tuned!!

Quick links:
Butterick B4822 Tutorial
Butterick B4822 - Part 2
Butterick B4822 - Final part

Butterick B4822 – Part 2

¿Are you ready to continue with your bag? Today we’re going to put the exterior together and also think about how we’re going to install the handles. Let’s get to work!

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STEP 2: CONSTRUCTING THE EXTERIOR OF THE BAG AND TACKLING THE HANDLES
Today we’re going to cover steps 6-8 of the bag instructions. Now would be a good time to apply some kind of trim to the bottom of the bag, which I didn’t do. That’s why I am skipping step 5.

Take the second front piece (the one without the front pocket) and your pattern, and use pins to mark the big circles on both sides (see the arrows pointing at my pins?). Place this front piece on top of the other one (the one WITH the pocket), right sides together, y secure with pins all around the bottom from circle to circle. Now stitch both pieces (remember: 1/2” seam allowance).



Here you see my stitching line in blue thread and below, in green, the pocket’s basting stitches. Remember I used a 1/4” seam allowance for this stitching? Now, when I turn the bag inside out, it will be out of sight!



Step 7 tells you to turn in the remaining seam allowance and press it. These are the margins above the circles, all the way to the top (the section that was left unsewn). Turn that half inch towards the wrong side of the fabric and press, on each side.



Here’s where my headache began. Now you’re supposed to insert the upper end of the front through one handle, turn it along the foldline (marked on the pattern) and machine stitch along the stitching line. Basically, you have to make a casing for the handle WITH THE HANDLE IN IT. Really?? The photo below shows the best scenario for this. Now try stitching that on your machine. Whoever can do it gets a medal!



So I decided to do some research. I looked online for tutorials on how to do this properly, without luck. I asked a nice lady on a sewing website how she made her bag, she told me to do it “slowly and carefully”. This didn’t help. I even thought about going to Joann’s for one of those classes where they help you with your project… I was ready to give up on this bag. It sat there for days, totally neglected. And then I thought: “what about opening and regluing the handles?” Enter my husband and his handy Dremel.



He made a nice clean cut and VOILA!

I know it is not the most orthodox method, but it was the best I could think of. Later on I’ll show you how to put the handles back together. Making the casing is so much easier this way!

Check back soon for the third installment of this series, where I’ll show you how to make and attach the lining pocket. Leave me a comment if you have any questions. See you soon!

Quick links:
Butterick B4822 - Part 1
Butterick B4822 - Part 3
Butterick B4822 - Final part

Butterick B4822 Tutorial

 

For our first project I have chosen a nice handbag with round handles. The pattern? Butterick B4822. I have chosen to make View B without the handle covers. It could also be View A but without the pom-pom trim. Anyway, it’s a hybrid between View A and View B. I believe this bag is a good first project and over the next few days I’ll show you how to make it!

Notes:
1) The pattern calls for 6.5” round handles, which I didn’t have. I used 5.5” and it worked OK, although I think that larger handles would have been better. Seam allowances are 0.5” throughout the project, although at some point or another I don’t follow this rule.
2) Measurements are in inches.
3) The making of this bag involved the unorthodox method of opening the handles with the intent of making the construction of this bag easier for me. If you're unsure about this, please wait until the end of this tutorial and then decide if this is the right method for you.

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To start, cut the pattern pieces corresponding to View A. You should have 6 pieces in total.

STEP 1: PREPARING THE FRONT POCKET

We’re going to prepare the front pocket (pattern piece #1, steps 1-5 on the instructions). First, we need to make a casing for the elastic by turning in the top edge 1/4” towards the wrong side of the fabric. Do this and press. (Note: I use this super handy folding template for turning and pressing which you can download from this wonderful blog called “The Scientific Seamstress.” Go get yours!)

Then fold another 0.5” and press again.

Now stitch close to the inner pressed edge. Notice how I moved the needle on my machine to the left. This helps me get the stitching very close to the left edge.

Before inserting the elastic, fold the pocket in half crosswise. Place a pin on both ends of the crease. This will help you later when you need to determine where the middle of the pocket is.

Insert the elastic in the casing and baste both ends. Basting ensures the elastic stays inside the casing. You can do this by hand or, if you’re lazy like me, you can set your machine to zig-zag stitching with no stitch length. I stitched back and forth several times, super close to the pocket’s side edges, on both sides. Now your elastic can’t escape!

Place the pocket on one of your #2 pattern pieces. The pocket’s WRONG side will sit on the front piece’s RIGHT side. Make the bottom edges match and pin.

Now the pattern tells you to baste the pocket onto the front piece. Because I don’t want my basting stitches to show when I put the bag together later, I will baste using a 1/4” seam allowance instead of the standard 0.5”.

Next you have to sew the pocket down the middle to make two compartments. Remember those pins you placed to mark the middle of the pocket? Grab a ruler and place pins all along the middle between the top and bottom pins. This will help your stitches be super more or less straight. :-P (This could also be done with disappearing ink marker, I suppose…) Stitch.

You’re done making and placing your pocket, yay! Our next step will be to put the exterior of the bag together and install the handles. I hope all these instructions have been clear. Please leave a comment if you have any questions or suggestions. See you soon!

Quick links:
Butterick B4822 - Part 2
Butterick B4822 - Part 3
Butterick B4822 - Final part