A Black and Silver floral bag for my hospital visit

In the hospital waiting room the morning of my operation

I have had this lovely but small off-cut of linen with a silver flower design on it for years. Probably about a metre at most of fabric I would guess. I kept it because its lovely but never found a way to wear this. The pattern is just too big. I toyed with ideas for a shift dress which I could possible squeeze out or a skirt but never quite decided if I could handle wearing it if I made it into either so it just stayed unused in the stash.

That is until I realised about a week before going to my operation that I have no bag to carry the stuff I am meant to take - like PJs, dressing gown, aids for when you cannot bend and eg sock putter-on-as.  I have now had the op and am at home and I am doing well though stuck unable to sew and on crutches for quite a few weeks yet. But anyway back to my bag.

My initial idea was use an Aldi shopping bag. Well they are strong, light and large enough and cost very little. In fact they make ideal bags for staying in hospital, but my other half (correctly it turns out) says "No you cannot do that, you will feel awful when everyone else has a decent proper bag. We will go shopping and buy one". Well it just goes totally against the grain to go out and spend money we cannot afford on a bag for a few days in hospital when my fabric stash is large enough to be a problem, and cause arguements between us, about it taking up too much space.

Time to make a bag. I searched for bag patterns but everything was more complicated than I needed for this since all I need really is a large tote bag. I do not need zippy pockets and those useful bits many bags have. I also did not really need to use those metal findings used on many bags. Its not that I cannot do that because I already own the necessary findings should I choose to use them - for example the D rings and connectors for making a removable strap. I have these in my stash but really why add something just for the sake of it?

I did my own pattern. Also this is not the best finished bag because it was made very quickly, but has not only stood up to what I needed, but in fact I think I will use it often for going shopping because this made a very strong tote bag. Despite its got a slightly rough finished look, its very good, so I decided to share this with you. I actually do not think anyone in the hospital had a clue this was a home made bag anyway. I just know its not really up to standard.

This bag worked brilliantly though. Its strong, big, but not too big to be un-handleable, and is based on the Aldi shopping bag - loosely that is. It has a gusset in the base made from a narrow rectangle of the fabric and I originally intended to add side gussets but the rectangles I cut for front and back were large enough so that I just seamed them and ignored the gussets I had already cut out. I will find a use for those bits later maybe. I could even add side handles. At time of making all I cared about was producing a useable bag - fast- and not letting my partner waste money we really do not have buying me a bag we will probably never use again. Also this bag is lined with inner pockets.

So to construction.

It has the following bits:

Strip for base probably about 15cm wide, rectangle for front and back, - I cut 2 each in lining and in outer fabric and the rectangles for front and back are slightly ( about 15cm ) taller than the Aldi shopping bag to give a foldover top flap.

Also a piece - rectangle for strap, cut in outer fabric only. No interfacing used. If you were making one of these and wanted it to last probably best if you added the interfacing but I literally wanted this for 3 days. That was stretched to 5 days when there were complications and they kept me in, but even then, not long enough for me to worry about interfacing in the strap or the strap stretching out of shape.

I am sure I recorded the measurements but cannot find them so I may update this post later if I do.

I also added two inner pockets to the lining which are just two smaller rectangles. The size here does not matter so long as you can fit your phone, tablet, book, soap, toothbrush or toiletries into it.

So to sew this up :

Outer fabric
Seam the sides, Insert the base which is the smaller rectangle. Side seams should be central to the short end of gusset rectangle: thats the hardest bit - sewing in the base.
Then:
Clip corners off at an angle and trim the edges but stay well away from the stitching because better it rucks up a bit than falls appart when needed. I am aiming for strong rather than a perfect finish. I suppose at this point you could add some cardboard or even the proper solid base you can buy for bag making. I never bothered.

Hopefully, you can see how its made from the photos. I have no photos of the part made bag it seems. I never then, intended it to be blogged about. It was just something I made to fulfil a need but its such a nice bag I decided to let the sewing world know about it.

And right now I am only able to dream of sewing and plan my next makes - for at least 6 whole weeks!!!!

Having made the outer of the bag I stopped at this point and I left it unfinished and repeated in a lighter dress weight cotton for the lining. I cut the lining a few inches / cm shorter at the top edge than the outer to make an overlapping flap because I do not want the lining to show when its folded over. Or to look home made and rubbish to other people because this is meant to be a presentable bag that will pass the test of looking acceptable to others who do not live in a sewing world. Otherwise I am wasting my time.

I have no images of the making. Below is the bag inside out showing the lining slightly shorter than the outer fabric. It has a top hem. You can also see that the strap is sewn on about 15cm below the top of the bag ( the X shaped stitching) giving an overlapping flap which I actually never used because my dressing gown was huge and it did not overlap or fold over at all!
 

Lining:
Once you have the outer made you need to make the lining.

Before you do anything here you need to decide if you want inner pockets and how big they are going to be etc.

If you do want inner pockets you need to sew to one or both sides of the lining before construction. I just added to one side. I added two layers of pockets. So a narrow rectangle on top of a bigger rectangle both sewn onto one side of my lining.

To do this first you need to add a hemmed edge to the top edge of your inner pockets to give your pockets a nice finish. Once you have added a top hem to each pocket, pin and then sew the sides and bottom of smaller pocket on top of the bigger pocket. I added a central seam to this pocket for small items. Then you should have a smaller pocket joined to the rectangle that will make your larger pocket. You now need to pin and sew your pocket bit to one side of the lining part. I reinforced the corners with a triangle of stitching.

As you can see my sewing is far from perfect or my hems/ seams rectangular but this made a really useable and strong pocket either way. Its actually not so out of rectangular as it looks in the photo but I will admit to imperfect 😀

The rectangle of stitching on the inside of the bag, with the X in it to the top left of the picture above and below is from attaching my strap.

 

 

I then sew up the sides and sewed in the base panel for my bag lining. At this point to get a nice finish you could sew the strap inside before you attach  the lining to the outer but this could be problematic with the fold over flap - that is why people add findings I suppose! 

So now you need to put your bag together. The easiest way to do this was to stick the lining into the bag, fold over the outer fabric to give a wide top hem and then sew round this.

 

I added my strap at end-of-bag construction so its not best finished since this meant sewing through the outer and lining to attach it, meaning the stitching attaching it can be seen from both sides, but I am still happy with this because it has done the job it was needed for. 

The strap it-self is just a long narrow rectangle that I sewed up right sides together into a tube, turned right-side out, folded ends in, and then sewed onto the sides of the bag itself. You need to check the length of your strap here because you do not want it too long - or too short. It will not be adjustable using this method so get it right or its going to be a problem.

Anyway, you can add the strap in whatever way you prefer.

 

This is the inside of my bag:

This is how the bag looks when on me:

The bag is far from perfect. But it works and I had no directions on making this, so just muddled through this, and it is also my first me made bag as well. 

There you have my excuses!

Bracken