Sewing Bags Workshop February 2019

I had a sewing bag like these given to me by a crafter friend years ago. My quilting friends at Mascot  admired it and asked me to workshop the bag for them. Unfortunately I didn't have a pattern for the bag so I thought I'd make it up as it looked pretty simple. I had lots of reproduction civil war scraps from other projects so I cut them all into strips of varying width for everybody and they sewed them vertically onto a backing. I made the bag in several stages to demonstrate what to do to the group.
The second bag I put the strips onto the backing obliquely for a bit of variety and to show what could be done with the various colours. They each sewed up their bags with lining and an inside pocket and some made a second one. We put large press-studs on for catches and then sewed a button on the outside of the top as in the photo. They have been a great success and fun to make as it's just a small project that can be done quickly. The group also made them in varying sizes suiting their purposes. My favourite is my blue one (below) because it includes a lot of my gorgeous reproduction fabrics in brown and blue. I call them "The Uglies". Somehow they are beautiful even though the colour combination sounds "icky" to me.