Origami Bag tutorial

I would like to thank the kind lady who let me know that one of the tutorials I posted a link to online no longer exists.  If you want to see the first bag I made like this one it is here.

After looking for another tutorial to link to and not finding one I decided I had to make my own.

I now have a new appreciation of the generous people who make tutorials and post them on their blog.  Thank you. Tutorials are not as easy to do as I thought they would be.

Firstly I learnt I should have used a light plain fabric and clear contrasting thread so that everything was easier to see.  So bear that in mind when you read my tutorial.  Also that I have no time to do it again right now because I promised the kind lady I would make one as soon as possible.  It has already taken a week of slaving away at the tutorial at night after work when I was already exhausted from talking to clients all day.

What You Need

40cm x 40cm (16") of exterior fabric
40cm x 40cm (16") of lining fabric
two buttons
cord (or ribbon like I used)

Instructions

Step 1:

Cut out one 40cm x 40cm square from both exterior and lining fabrics.

Please be more accurate than I was.  If you think you may not be perfectly square when cutting out, then stay away from spotted fabric!

Step 2:

Pin and sew the two squares together.  Right sides facing.

I used a 1cm seam as you can see (above).

Leave a gap of about 5cm to 8cm in one side so that you can turn right side out.

See my fingers.  Am I doing bunny ears or the peace sign?

Step 3:

Clip all four corners to reduce bulk.

Step 4:

Turn right side out and press.

Ensure all four corners are pushed all the way out and are square.

Step 5:

Fold in half.

Step 6:

Fold the sides over until tip of triangle is flush to the other edge.

(This is where using a light coloured fabric would have been more useful to show what I am talking about!)

Fold the top corner down.  Press entire project.

Step 7:

Draw lines on the crease lines.  The lines on the sides will be your stitching lines.

Step 8:

Fold over the top and bottom flaps to the line marked and pin.

Sew across about 1/2" to form your casings.

My casing.  If I didn't use spotted fabric you would probably not notice it looking so uneven.

Step 9:

Sew the sides.  Follow those lines you drew in step 7.

Just wanted to show that not only do I cut wonky uneven squares of fabric but I sew wonky straight lines of stitching.

No don't do this.  Sew yours straight.

Step 10:

Origami fold the sides in to look like mini squares.

Step 11:

Fold the top flap of mini square over as in photo on left.

Step 12:

Stitch a button onto each side. 

Step 13:

Stitch an embellishment to the front.

After making a couple of flowers for the front that all seemed too big, I got lazy and went ahead and used one.  Personally I think a smaller flower would look better.

Step 14:

Pull your cord through the casings and voila!  Your done!!!



Hope you like this tutorial and can follow my instructions well enough.  If you can't my email is always a few clicks away.

Weddings are  generally not my favourite event to go to, though I do prefer them to funerals.  I find church weddings are stiff and too formal.  So imagine my pleasant surprise to witness a beautiful wedding in a cathedral called St Francis Xavier that had fun, love and laughter.  A happy priest telling jokes and the bride and groom's close friends having participating roles in the service.  I cried a little. The bride's mother tells me I was the only person who cried.  I assured her that they were tears of joy.

 

This is not the best of wedding photos but about the only one I managed to take without a bubble up somebody's nose.

Spot the bubble!

To be fair to family I will embarrassingly expose myself on my blog.

before a few drinks at hens night

after a few drinks!

 

 

My sewing mojo has managed to finish off a small childs tote that has been hanging around unfinished for months.  I feel so happy to finally finish off a project that started off exciting and ended up blah.

Next sewing finish is a neck pillow I made using a pattern from the book called "Sew Darn Cute" by Jenny Ryan.  That book is so darn cute and the projects in it are all on my "must do" list. 

Top of pillow was made using cotton scraps stitched onto a piece of flannel.  Then I traced the pattern onto this and cut out along with the backing piece which was from a child's dress made of soft chenille fabric.  Looks gorgeous and feels so comfy.  It is so mine! 

Mothers Day is in a week.  Do you think I will have enough time to make a couple more for the lovely ladies in my life?  (A little voice of reason is telling me no because stuffing the pillow is such a time sucker).

Thanks for reading.  May you all be blessed with beautiful weather this week.

I have been attempting to write a blog post for ages.  I have lost count of the many times I logged in all ready to do a post and then been interrupted and lured away from the keyboard!

So lets be quick:

Made a fabric flower for no reason at all.  Turned out to be a blessing because I got asked to decorate church pews for a wedding.  No not with the above flower.  I made some white ones.

I made eight.  Well I stitched the circles together while my friend Min cut out all 12 circles for each flower.  Cutting out the circles is the hardest and most boring bit I think you will agree. Tutorial is from Precious Little Poppets.  Link here.

Some netting and the pew decorations are done.  We had about 2 weeks notice before the wedding as the bride forgot about the little details.

The Gnomes have eyes!  One (red hat) has a new home too.  Link for tutorial is on previous post. (sorry about being lazy.  Link to Gingercakes blog here.

The gardening job I mentioned last post about my friend coming over to help..........  well we had good intentions and did do some mowing but soon did more drinking.  Mowing and drinking do not mix.  I should think.  I don't actually know because I don't drink and mow. I'm not an idiot! lol

Hey!  I got a post done!  Yippee and wish my long suffering readers all the best wherever you are.