Today’s contributor is Crystal from Stitched By Crystal. All posts written by Crystal for Make It and Love It can be found HERE.
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Hi there! Crystal here, from Stitched by Crystal! Summer vacation is officially over and we are back to the grind around here. That means school, sports, and for my daughter, dance. Her new dance classes started last week, so she needed a new dance bag. Ok, really…she has lots of bags she could have use, but what better excuse to design and sew up a new bag! I came up with this really quick and easy bucket bag, it is really roomy and perfect for all her dance gear…but would be great for lots of other things too! And I am sharing a tutorial today so you can sew your own bucket bag!
The bucket bag has a round bottom and straight sides, so it looks like a big bucket when it is opened, and the top closes with a drawstring. It is a really simple sewing project that would be great for a beginner, but fun for a more seasoned seamstress too!
The drawstring doubles as a strap and the bag can be worn three ways…slung cross body style, as a backpack with one side of the drawstring over each shoulder, or as a purse over one shoulder.
The finished bag is about 14” tall and 12” wide. It makes a great dance bag with plenty room for my daughter’s dance shoes and water bottle. But this bag could have lots of great uses! It could be an overnight bag, a storage bag for toys or games, or an everyday tote. You could even size the bag up or down a bit to perfectly fit your needs!
Want to make a bucket bag? Great! Let me show you how!
**all seam allowances are ½”**
Start by cutting your fabric. You will need an 8.5” circle cut from your main fabric, your lining fabric, and your interfacing. I used an 8.5” salad plate as a template, but you could draw one out with a compass.
You will also need rectangles that are 14” tall by 26.75” wide cut from your main fabric, your lining fabric, and your interfacing. (note** if you want to make a different size bag, the length of these rectangles should roughly equal the circumference of your circle… so think back to high school geometry for a second… that is 3.14 x the diameter of the circle you cut, I rounded up to the nearest ¼”)
And you will need a strip of your main fabric that is 3” wide by 27.75” tall (or 1” longer than the rectangle you just cut if you are making a different size bag)
Fuse your interfacing to your outer bag pieces. For a sturdier bag, you could also add interfacing to the lining pieces or add a layer of fusible fleece.
Start by sewing the open side of your bias tape closed. Then cut off a 3” piece of the bias tape from one end. Put the long piece aside.
Fold the 3” piece in half and baste it to the side of the main bag piece, about 1” – 1.5” from the bottom corner.
Fold your main and lining rectangles in half lining up the 14” sides. Sew along the edge of both, leaving a 3” gap in the middle of the lining piece.
Press the seams open.
Pin the bottom of the main bag to the bottom of the bag (remember the loop you basted is at the bottom, so double check that you are pinning to the correct end)
Sew the bag bottom to the bag. Repeat with the lining pieces. Turn the lining right side out and set both bag pieces aside.
Hem the ends of the long strip you cut by turning them ½” towards the wrong side, then another ½” towards the wrong side and sewing along the folded edge.
Fold the strip in half wrong sides together lining up the raw long edges.
Pin the strip to the right side the main bag piece, lining up the raw edges. The hemmed edges of the strip should meet at the seam of the bag. Baste the strip to the main bag.
With the main bag inside out and the lining right side out, put the lining inside the main bag.
Line up the top edge of the bag pieces and make sure the seams of the main bag and lining are lined up. Sew around the top of the bag.
Turn the bag right side out through the hole you left in the lining. Sew the hole closed either by hand or machine.
Tuck the lining inside the main bag; the drawstring casing should stick up. Press the seam at the top of the bag and then topstitch around the bag just below the seam.
Using a safety pin, feed the bias tape through the casing at the top of the bag.
With the draw string centered inside the casing, you stitch through the center front of the casing, this will keep the strings nice and even as you open and close the bag.
Tie the drawstring to the loop at the bottom of the bag. You can do this by feeding one end through the loop and tying the to strings, or feed both through the loop and add a decorative bead. Tie the strings at your desired length and then trim of any extra string.
Thanks for reading and happy sewing!
Crystal
Check out Crystal’s blog here. Her darling shop here. Follow her on Instagram here. And her Pinterest page here.
***ALL contributor posts by Crystal, can be found HERE.
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