Sewing Project - ReUsable Bag - Quilted Swirl

 

I made another ReUsable Shopping Bag today.  

I started with the 12.5 inch quilted square I picked up at the ReUse Center this week.   I backed the square with a 14" square of white 100% cotton. I chose to do this because the yellow fabric was thin and showed the pattern of the turquoise fabric through and with a finished layer I could create a pocket. I top stitched the swirl to the white cotton by following 2 of the diamond shapes in the quilting.  I then, used the technique of self binding to finish the edges.  That means bringing the white to the front and folding over and again and top stitching down. I mitered the corner with a technique I research a while back for napkins. Perfect Mitered Corners Tutorial. 

I then chose a turquoise microfiber cloth which matched well and created it with finished seams on the inside to a final width of fourteen inches. I sewed the quilted swirl to the front of the bag (should have done it before the sides).  I left a piece of the top edge open and created a pocket by top stitching are tall rectangle following the quilted pieces.

I created the handles by hemming the ends, pressing in half then in half again and top stitching the ope and folded sides. They were 19" long by .75" wide. I folded the top edge of the bag 1" then again another inch and sewed it down with the wavy decorative stitch. I placed the handles 4" from the edges and sewed them down the 2 inches they overlapped the bag. 

I created a skirt for the top of the bag with a double layer of white cotton and a double layer of turquoise microfiber. I serged the cut edges.  I folded over the serged edge about 1" along the finished top edge of the bag and top stitched in on.  I then folded in the serged short ends in and top stitched the 2 of them together on the side seam of each bag. 

I used white thread for this project.