Sweet Nothings ipad Carrier Bag (Click here for printer friendly instructions) Hi Everyone, I am so happy to be here to share this tutorial today. My name is Julie Dueck and you might know me from The Intrepid Thread. This is the second time I have been invited to share with you and I am so honored to be here. Course Materials: From Sweet Nothings by Zoe Pearn
1/4 yd C5005SN-Multi Sweet Dots Cotton 1/4 yd C5002SN-Pink Sweet Swirls Cotton 1/4 yd C5000SN-Red Sweet Main Cotton 1/2 yd C5003SN-Green Sweet Diamonds Cotton 1/4 yd D5001-Cream Dreamy- Sweet Floral Dreamy 1/2 yd Fusible Fleece (this is normally 49-50 inches wide otherwise see instructions for piece sizes) 1-20" by 11" piece of medium weight fusible interfacing 2- Swivel hooks 2-1 inch "D" rings 1- Magnetic Snap 1 1/2" wide blue painters tape (Optional) Instructions: Please note: All seams are 1/4" unless otherwise noted. 1. Cut two 9" by 11" pieces of Cream Dreamy Cut two 9" by 11" pieces of Green Sweet Diamonds Cut one 9" by 11" piece of Pink Sweet Swirls
2. Cut one 4 1/2" by 7 1/2" piece of Multi Sweet Dots Cotton Cut one 4 1/2" by 7 1/2" piece of Pink Sweet Swirls
3. Cut one 5" by 4" piece of Multi Sweet Dots Cotton
4. Cut one 3" by Width of Fabric (WOF) piece of Multi Sweet Dots Cotton Cut one 3 1/2" by WOF of Green Sweet Diamonds (I am sorry if this is confusing but they are 1/2 inch different)
5. Cut one 5 1/2" by WOF piece of Red Sweet Main
6. Cut one 4" by WOF of Green Sweet Diamonds
7. Cut three 9" by 11" pieces of fusible fleece Cut one 4" by WOF piece of fusible fleece
8. Cut one 9" by 11" piece of interfacing Cut one 4 1/2" by 7 1/2" piece of interfacing (Keep your scraps of interfacing we will use a couple of them as well)
9. Let's start the bag already! Shoulder strap first... With your 4" by WOF strip of Green Diamonds and your 4" by WOF of fusible fleece. Apply fleece to fabric according to manufacturer s directions.
10. Fold the strap in half meeting the two long edges and press. (Don't let the purple nails mesmerize you like they do me...)
11. Open up the strap and meet both long edges at the center line you just created by pressing. Then press again. (Are you staring at the nails? Come on admit it!)
12. Fold the strap in half again encasing the edges in the center of the strap and press again. Top stitch down the open edge of the strap approximately 1/8" from the edge. Tip: When top stitching lengthen your stitches, this will help your stitching to look nicer.
13. Repeat the top stitching on the folded side of the strap. It will look like this when you are done...
14. Repeat steps 10-13 for the 4" by 5" Multi Dots fabric piece (there is no need for fusible fleece of interfacing on this piece) After top stitching cut the piece in half creating two 2 1/2" straps. Lay these and the shoulder strap aside for later.
15. Sew your three remaining WOF strips in this order.
When you are done it will look like this...
16. From this sewn together strip cut two 9" pieces and one 11" piece.
17. On just your 11" piece from the last step cut 1" from the top and the bottom.
18. Apply the 9" by 11" fusible fleece pieces to the 9" wide by 11" long strip pieces according to manufacturer s directions.
19. While you are at the ironing board apply the fusible interfacing to the 9" long by 11" wide piece.
The next few steps are optional. I love the way it looks when a bag is quilted so I am going to show you my favorite super easy way to quilt a bag. Grab your painters tape (this might have to be wrested from your hubbie's fingers...ask me how I know) and a clear ruler with a 45 degree angle on it. 20. Place the ruler on the edge of one of your 9" wide by 11" long pieces at the top left (as you face it) corner. Put the point of the corner at the 1 1/2" mark on the ruler and line the 45 degree line up with the edge.
21. Lay a piece of painters tape along the edge of the ruler.
22. Measure over 1 1/2" from the first piece of tape and place another piece of tape along the ruler. Continue until you reach the opposite corner.
23. We are going to quilt this by sewing down both sides of each of the pieces of tape. The super thing about this is you don't have to put a walking foot on because the fusible fleece is secure and won't shift from the pressure of the sewing foot on it. So it is super fast and painless. Don't worry about back stitching the stitching will be sewn over when we make the seams. And we don't have to worry about what the back looks like because it will be encased in the bag and never seen again. Just zip zip through the machine... ready... go!
Here is what it looks like when you are done with this step.
24. Carefully remove the tape but don't crumple it (I stick it to the side of my table) we are going to use it again. Starting from the bottom left corner this time repeat steps 20-22. 25. Remove the tape again, saving it. Repeat steps 20-24 for the other 9" by 11" piece that is like this one. When you are done they will look like this:
26. Find your interfacing scraps. Using two pieces that are approximately 4" x 4" (they don't have to be perfect) fold them in half twice to make a small square. Then sew down one side of the square to hold them together.
27. On one 9" by 11" piece of the Green Diamond fabric measure up from the bottom 1 3/4" and 4 1/2 from either side (this should be the center) and mark a small dot with a pencil (this will not show but if you prefer to use some sort of erasable marker of course you may).
28. Magnetic Snaps come with washers, they are circles with a hole in the center and two slits. Take you washer and place it over the dot you made in step 27 and mark the two slits with a pencil. Then, using sharp scissors, cut the slits open.
29. Make marks in the center of one of your interfacing squares and cut the same way you did in step 28.
30. Press one half of your snap through the slits in your fabric then through the slits in the interfacing.
31. Place the washer over the snap prongs and bend the prongs down with a pair of pliers.
Ta Da! (Don't get confused in the subsequent photos; I decided to switch this half of the snap for the other half... just the way I like my snaps to go)
32. While we are doing snaps let's go ahead and put the other half on as well. On your 9" long by 11" wide strip piece (the one with the interfacing on the back) measure 2 3/4" from the bottom and 5 1/2" from each edge and make your dot. Then follow steps 28-31 to finish. Set this piece aside until later.
33. Take your green snap piece and one of the quilted pieces and place them right sides together.
34. Starting at the top corner sew down one long side across the bottom and up the other long side, leave the top open.
35. Trim the sewn corners and flip right side out (I like to use a chop stick to get the corners pointy). Then press.
This is your flap, lay it aside for now.
36. Place your Dreamy 9" by 11" pieces right sides together and sew in a U shape just as you did with the flap, leaving the top open. No need to turn or press. This will be the lining for the ipad pocket...nice and soft to keep it from getting scratched. TIP: Dreamy has a slight stretch to it. If you find it hard to sew you might want to switch to a ball point needle in your machine.
(sorry, not a lot of pictures of this step) 37. Now we will make the interior pocket. Apply the fusible interfacing 4 1/2" by 7 1/2" piece to one of the 4 1/2" by 7 1/2" fabric rectangles.
38. Place the two 4 1/2" by 7 1/2" rectangles right side together and sew from the bottom corner up one short side, across the top, and down the other short side. Leave the bottom open.
39. Trim sewn corners. Turn right side out and press.
40. Measure to the center of the pocket (should be about 3 1/2") and place a pin in the top to mark the center. 41. On your pink and white vine fabric piece measure across the 11" side to 5 1/2" and about 4 1/2" up from the bottom and mark with a pin.
42. Match up the bottom edges and the pins on the two pieces and pin the sides in place.
43. Top stitch close to the edge of the pocket (no need to sew the bottom) on both sides. I like to back stitch twice at the top of pockets to make them very secure. 44. Mark the center of the pocket (3 1/2") with a piece of painter's tape or disappearing marker and stitch down the center of the pocket the same way you did the sides.
Here you can see how I reinforced the top by back stitching a couple times.
45. Place your pink and white vine piece and your 9" long by 11" wide strip piece right sides together and sew up one side across the top and down the other side, leave the bottom open.
46. Trim corners. Turn right side out and press.
47. Now we are going to make the pleats on the pocket. On the outside of the pocket piece measure 1 1/2 inches from each side and place pins in the top and bottom to mark it.
48. Measure 1/2" from both edges and mark with pins the same way as step 47.
49. Bring the pins at 1 1/2" over the top to meet the pins at the 1/2" mark. Place another pin to hold the pleat securely in place. Do this on the top and the bottom on both sides of the pocket. Remove the marking pins.
50. Baste across the bottom of the pocket, slightly less then 1/4", to hold the pleats in place.
51. Top stitch across the top of the pocket at 1/4" then again close to the edge to finish the top of the pocket.
52. Apply last 9" by 11" piece of fusible fleece to the last green 9" by 11" piece. Measure 3/8" from the side of the green piece and matching the bottoms pin the pocket to the green piece. It will be slightly distorted because of the thickness but if you remove your pins when you are about 1/2" an inch from them while you are sewing it will straighten out. Top stitch close to the edge on each side of the pocket and back stitch several times at the top to reinforce. The bottom can be left open.
53. Place the pocket piece right sides together with the remaining quilted piece (the strips on the pocket and the back won't match at the sides). Sew from the top down one long side, across the bottom, and up the other long side leaving the top open. Trim sewn corner. Turn right side out and press.
54. Grab your flap piece (the one with the other half of the snap on it) and place it right side together with the back. Put about three pins in it to hold it in place.
55. Slide your bag inside the lining (Dreamy).
56. Find your two small strap pieces and fold them in half. Slip them down between your lining and your bag centering them over the side seams. Here you can see I had gotten too excited and forged ahead without putting the D ring straps on, so I had to frog (you know... rippit, rippit).
57. Match up the tops of the bag, the lining, and the D ring straps and pin all the way around, as you come to the three pins that are holding your flap on remove them and replace them on the outside of the lining. Where the front (pocket side is) leave a 5 inch opening for turning. I like to put two pins on either side of the opening so I don't forget to stop there. Sew all the way around the top leaving the opening. This is a good place to use your free arm. Just take it slowly.
58. Turn the bag right side out. It will be a little strange but you will figure it out. Tuck the Dreamy down inside the bag and press.
59. At the opening turn the edges in 1/4" and pin.
Here I am going to show you how my husband's engineering brain has rubbed off on me :) I put the D ring straps half inside the flap of the bag. So that if I decided to detach the strap and use the bag as just a case (say in carry-on luggage) I could flip the D rings to the inside and hide them.
60. Top stitch close to the edge of top of the bag and again 1/4" inch away, catching in the open edge. When you come to the flap continue the top stitching close to the seam (I have pictures showing what to do when you come to the flap).
Yeah, almost done!
60. Find your shoulder strap. Measure how long you want it. I wanted mine to be able to be worn across my chest so I made my strap really long. You can make yours hand bag length or shoulder length if you want. Add three inches to the length you decide on. Cut, then zig-zag stitch across the ends (this might not be necessary, since we have fusible on it might not ravel but I like to be cautious).
61. Slide a swivel clip onto each end. Turn the edge over 1/4" and sew down approximately 1" up the strap. You might want to raise the clearance on your presser foot for this because it is pretty thick.
62. Slide your D rings on to the straps and squeeze them closed. Then clip on your straps.
All done! Here are a couple gratuitous glamour shots so you can see how it all comes together.
They say that necessity is the mother of invention. That was true in this case. I dislike having to carry around anything more than absolutely necessary. I have been looking for months for a handbag that was also an ipad carrier. I found bags that would fit ipads but I didn't want my "purse stuff" rubbing up against the ipad possibly scratching it as I was carrying it around. I also didn't want to have to carry a purse and an ipad case. That is how this bag design was born. It has a nice poochy pocket for "purse stuff" and a nice cooshy soft pocket for the ipad so it doesn't get scratched. The purse stuff is not held up tight to the ipad by a flat pocket either making it that much safer for my precious :) I hope you enjoy this tutorial as much as I enjoyed bringing it to you. Yours, Julie