Winged Things Week - Bird Fabric Zipper Bag with StitchnSew

Hi everyone, it’s Audrey! Welcome to “Winged Things” Week here on the Therm O Web blog. I am so excited to be here today because it’s not often that I get to share a fabric project with you… but today I have an adorable, easy-to-sew fabric project bag tutorial featuring our awesome StitchnSew firm craft stabilizer and some of my favorite winged things fabric from artist Cori Dantini.

I recently started up cross-stitching again, and a project bag like this is perfect for organizing my charts, cross-stitch fabric, scissors, and floss. But even if you don’t stitch, a project bag can be used for so many things, from storing your tablet or iPad or containing your craft supplies. And they make a great gift idea, too.

Let’s take a closer look.

StitchnSew Fabric Project Bag

by Designer Audrey Pettit

What You Will Need:
Therm O Web StitchnSew Non-Woven Craft Sew-In Firm
Fabric: Blend Fabric – Hello, World by Cori Dantini, Fall Goodness by Cori Dantini
Zipper: ByAnnie – Black Zipper by the yard 4.5, Spring Assorted Zipper Pulls
Seam Binding Tool Kit
Ribbon

To begin, gather your supplies.

Cut fabric and stabilizer to 10.5″ x 14″. You will need two pieces for the outside of the bag, two pieces for the lining of the bag, and two pieces of firm craft stabilizer. I pieced two contrasting fabric patterns for the outside of my bag and inserted a strip of ribbon between the two fabrics. Topstitch along the seams, if you do any piecing. Just make sure all the fabric panels end up at 10.5″ x 14″.

Place the panels of firm craft stabilizer behind the outside fabric panels, and add a bit of machine-stitched quilting to the panels if desired. For my bag, I went around the bird images and the flower heads with black thread.

Cut some black zipper by the yard slightly longer than your project bag, or be sure to use a pre-cut zipper that’s longer. If using zipper by the yard, insert a zipper pull onto the zipper tape. Place the front panel of your project bag face up on your table. Place the zipper (right side down) across the top of the panel. Add one of the lining fabric pieces, face down onto the panel. Using a zipper foot, stitch a 1/4″ seam along the top edge of the zipper. Open the fabric pieces, and fold the lining down. Iron the fabric.

Place the back panel of your project bag face up on your table. If there’s a direction to your fabric, make sure it is right-side up. Take the panel that you just sewed, and place it face down onto the back panel, lining up the top of the zipper with the top of the back panel. And then place the second lining fabric face down, once again lining up those top edges. Using a zipper foot, stitch a 1/4″ seam along the top edge of the zipper.

Open the panels up, and you can see that the zipper is now inserted at the top of the bag. Fold the lining fabrics down, and iron them in place.

Run a top stitch along both edges of the zipper. This helps keep the lining fabric folded down and away from your zipper.

Take the two outer fabric pieces and lay them together, with right sides facing. Take the two lining pieces and lay them together, with right sides facing. Reach inside the lining fabrics, and open up the zipper about 3/4 of the way open. Pin or clip the fabrics in place. Starting at the bottom of the lining fabric, stitch around the project bag using a 1/4″ seam allowance, making sure to leave about a 3-4″ gap in the bottom of the lining. Cut the corners at a diagonal, and trim off any excess bulk from the sides of the fabric, making sure not to clip any of the seams. Trim off the overhang of the zipper from each side.

Reach through the opening in the lining fabric, and pull the project bag right side out. Use a chopstick or bone folder to really get into the corners of both the lining and the outer fabric and push them all the way out. Iron the bag. Fold in the edges of the bottom opening in the lining fabric, and topstitch all the way across the bottom of the bag.

Then simply push the lining down into the inside of the project bag.

Cut a strip of the lining fabric that is about 1/5″ x 10″. Create a seam binding tape using a seam binding tool kit. Or, fold the strip in half the long way, and iron. Open the fabric back up, and fold each side into the middle crease line, and iron again. Machine zig-zag stitch down the seam binding tape. Add the seam binding to the zipper pull, and stitch across the top to keep it taught. Tie knots in each end.