Bag With A Sling: Drawing Up A Pattern & Cutting It Out Part 1 of 6

Two of my great loves in life are painting and sewing. I can hardly be happier than when these two hobbies cross paths and join together to make for an even happier project. This is exactly what happens in today's project when we make a handbag with a sling. What makes this project great fun is the fact that we paint the centre panels of the bag with cute figures and pictures. In this first blog in the series I show you how I went about to draw up the pattern for the bag. I also show you how to cut the pattern pieces from fabric when we are done. In the following blog I will show you how to construct the bag.

I design the pattern on A3 size paper.

The first step is to design the three main panels that will make up the body of the bag.

The centre panel is slightly larger than the sides as this is the focal one that we will later paint with cute designs.

The lining will not be cut in three different panels and need its own pattern piece.

I then design the sling and zipper flaps.

Now it is time to consider pockets inside the bag.

This is what the pattern pieces look like when laid out side by side.

Some of the pattern pieces did not fit onto one piece of paper and now need to be extended. I do this with double-sided tape.

The pattern made provision for the overlap in the extensions of the pattern pieces.

As I intend to make four bags with painted panels, I cut eight panels from 100 % cotton sheeting to be painted. Pure fabrics are less likely to wash out than blended ones and therefore this makes the extra expense well worth it.

I also cut two centre panels from this fabric with its bicycles...

... as well as from this one with its perfume bottles. I will be making six bags and cut the fabric for all six in one go.

I cut side panels for one bag from the bicycle fabric.

I cut side panels for a second bag from the fabric with the perfume bottles.

I cut the side panels for the remaining four bags from black fabric.

The zipper flaps for four bags are cut from black.

One bag's zipper flaps are cut from the fabric with the perfume bottles.

The last bag's zipper flaps are cut from the fabric with the bicycles.

Four slings are cut from black.

One sling is cut from the perfume bottles.

One sling is cut from the bicycles.

I then cut the lining pieces for two bags from this poly-cotton fabric.

Two more bags have their linings cut from a blue version of the same fabric.

The last two bags have their lining cut from a plain grey. All the pieces are now cut and the construction of the bags can begin. I tell you more about this in the next blog.

Here is a preview of what one of the bags look like when finished. This is a view of the inside of the bag.

One side of the bag.

The reverse side of the same bag.

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy my books here:
You can purchase Designs By Miekie 1 here.
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