A TALE OF THREE BAGS
It was lovely sunny weather last week, so I took a stroll down to the local Laura Ashley at lunchtime. My idea was to check out their fabric range, as they sell the most lovely stripes and florals. And while they do indeed stock the most beautiful fabric, at around £32/metre, it wasn’t cheap. Luckily I spotted a wicker basket full offcuts, which was exactly what I was looking for. My local quilters’ guild is in need of small, handmade gifts to sell at their exhibition in October. While I could use fabric from my stash (but, but...) I’ve been on the lookout for small pieces of slightly more heavyweight fabric to make some little bags from.

I found three pretty pieces of fabric, each about A4 size, apparently unwanted fabric samples, all individually packed in plastic bags. They cost 50P each – a bargain! Next, it was down to Coles sewing centre for some zips. They have a bewildering choice there, so I bought a variety, ranging in size from 8 to 12". The zips cost about £1.50 each.

Back home, I took the fabric swatches out of the bags and discovered they were all very different; a fact was wasn’t apparent before through the plastic. The first fabric was a sort of plastic-covered cotton (like you use for table covering). The second was a thick cotton slub, and the third was a silk/polyester blend with a gorgeous soft sheen to it.

Entering ‘how to make a simple lined zippered bag’ on Google yielded many excellent tutorials. Interesting how many ways there are to describe the same method of putting things together! To get into the swing of things, I decided to make an unlined bag first, using the plasticized fabric. On a purely practical level, I thought the whole ‘turning it all inside out’ process might be tricky if I had decided to line it because of the stiffness of the fabric. The process was far quicker than I anticipated, and within about quarter of an hour I had a nice little 10" zippered bag!

The next step was lined bags, a more tricky technique as you have to get the inner and outer fabrics the right way up and aligned to the correct edge of the zip. Once I figured it out, they didn’t take much longer to make. The most time consuming part was hand-sewing the bottom of the lining prior to pushing it back inside the finished bag.

So, after one afternoon, I had three 10" bags, all different, two lined, and felt quite pleased with myself. Financial outlay per bag, about £2 for the fabric swatch and the zip.