I saw this ugly sweater and thought of you:: a scrappy satchel how-to

I think I actually said something like that to a friend of mine when I bought this sweater at a thrift store last summer.  Not that she, in a million years of time traveling back to the '80's, would ever wear this sweater.  I just thought it would make a perfect winter satchel.  And that she would like it.

Do you see why I thought of her? (yes, I'm talking about you, Jenna.)

Think you can find a scrappy sweater for a satchel while it's still winter? That's Step 1.

Step 2:  Cut out the front and back of sweater to the same dimensions as your want your bag, plus an inch seam allowance in each direction.  Cut a liner fabric the same width and four inches longer on the height (this allows for the top liner to be folded over for the top edge of finished bag).

Step 3: Sew sides and bottom of sweater fabric  with right sides together. Sew sides and bottom of liner fabric wrong sides together.

While sweater fabric is still inside out, trim extra sweater fabric around edges and corners to take away the bulkiness.                  

                               

Step 4:  Turn sweater fabric right-side out.  Leave the liner fabric seam-side out and place inside sweater pouch.

***Just a free tip from Pajama Mama here, at this point, I usually drop something of some weight in the bag, like my scissors, or a small toy.  I hate it when the liner slides up when I'm not paying attention and ends up a few inches shorter than the outer bag.  Hate it.  What?  You always pay attention?  pppphhhh.

Step 5:  Fold the liner over twice. (the photo below is folded only once)

                                 

Step 6:  Stitch along the bottom of fold around the entire bag.

                                

Step 7:  You're so close!  Now just salvage any extra sweater fabric that you can for the strap.  I cut up one side, across the top, and back down the other side.  My dimensions were something like 5 inches by  a million inches.  Really. I didn't measure.  I did sling it over my shoulder to see if it was close to what I wanted.  Capiche?  Good.

***Another PJ tip: Consider cotton or canvas webbing for the strap if your sweater fabric is super stretchy.  I can just imagine Jenna carrying a boat-load of diapers and wipes in her sweater satchel and finding it below her knees.  Really helpful, Satchel.  Thanks.

Stitch down one edge of scrap strap fabric, with wrong-sides together.  Turn out to right-side until you get arthritis.  Then take a break and finish later.

Step 8, or 25, depending on what you consider a "step": Attach strap however you like.  Inside, outside, whatever.  Can you tell why I don't do tutorials?  I get burned out on the typing of the steps.  Anywhoo, I tucked in the unfinished edges of the strap and stitched a rectangle around the top, sides and bottom where the strap and bag meet.

Not perfect, but not bad for under an hour including the photo-shoot.


I'm linking this post to Kimba'sDIY Day & Kim's Get Your Craft On-check them out!