Sewing Tutorial: Simple Messenger Bag

This tutorial was created by Barb, who is fw221 in the Sewing Mamas forums. Thanks Barb!

Supplies:

• 2/3 yard of 60″ wide fabric for exterior
  2/3 yard of 60″ wide fabric for interior
  OR
  1 yard of 44″ wide fabric for exterior
  1 yard of 44″ wide fabric for interior
• Thread to match

If you want to use a lighter weight fabric, be sure to match it with a heavier weight. Two light weights won’t be substantial enough without interfacing. Two heavyweight fabrics will be tough on your machine (but not impossible).

Part One: Cut Your Fabric!

We’ll need from each fabric:
two cuts of 15″ (tall) x 18″ (wide)
one cut of 13″ (tall) x 15″ (wide)
one 3″ wide strip across the entire length of the fabric (we’ll cut this down later)

Part Two: Boxing

With the exterior fabric, take the two cuts of 15″x18″ and sew around three sides (15 – 18 – 15). Seam allowance should be 1/4″ to 3/8″, just be consistent. Be sure to secure the beginning and end by sewing back & forth a few times.

With the interior fabric, take the two cuts of 15″x18″ and sew around three sides (15 – 18 – 15) BUT leave a hole around 3″ wide in the middle of the 18″ length to turn the bag.

Press both pieces FLAT.

Pinch the corner and put seams together. Flatten out the corner on a grid and draw a diagonal line (My grid is 0.5″, so measure your diagonal at 2″ on each side).

Pin to keep in place, then take to sewing machine and sew along the line.

Cut excess off.

Do this for both corners on interior and exterior fabrics.

Press what seams you can.

This is what the corners will look like now:

Part 3: The Flap

Put interior & exterior fabrics right side together. Round off the bottom corners (flap will be 15″ wide by 13″ tall). I used a CD to round the corners, but a plate or glass will work too.

Sew around 3 sides and clip the corner.

Turn right side out and press!

Topstitch and then press again.

Part Four: The Strap

Place right sides together and sew up the long sides. Turn in your favorite fashion (I have a Turn-It-All set).

Press and topstitch.

Cut to desired length. I used 42″.

Part Five: Putting it all together

This will come as a great surprise… Press everything again!

Center the flap onto bag interior, like fabrics together and pin.

Center the strap ends to the seams, like fabrics together and pin.

Stick the exterior of the bag inside the interior, right sides together and pin.

Sew the whole thing shut.


Check the seam to make sure you sewed through all the layers. Then turn right side out through the hole you left in the bottom of the interior fabric.


Sew the bottom shut. I used my machine to sew right next to the seam, but hand stitching looks better.

Put the interior inside the exterior and press again

and topstitch

VOILA!

A HUGE THANK YOU to Barb for taking the time to put together this fabulous tutorial. Hope you have fun creating your own messenger bag!

Happy Sewing!
Kelly