Lunch Box or Purse Variation

Yesterday at my ASG meeting someone (I think it was Helen) suggested that you could add straps and make a cute lunch bag out of the make-up bag that I showed in my previous post.  So guess what I spent the morning doing.

The bag is made the same way as the bag I showed you in the last post with the following changes:

• You'll need two strips of the main fabric cut 5 1/2" by width of the fabric
• You'll need 4 strips of craft weight interfacing cut 1 3/4" by width of the interfacing (mine was 22" wide)
• For the outside pocket you'll need a piece of main fabric and a piece of lining fabric cut 6" by 4 1/2" and a piece of interfacing cut 6" by 4".

Step 1:  Make the straps.  Lay the interfacing on the center of the fabric and press one side toward the center.  Press the other side over this and turn under 1/4".  Press.

Top stitch down the fold and then stitch on edges.  (I used 5 rows of stitches, you'll need at least 3).

Step 2:  Trim the straps to 41", you can make them shorter,if you wish. I think I'll make them about 5" shorter if I make another one.  Pin the strap on one side 3 inches down from the zipper and centered 3 inches from the center of the bag.

Stitch on the outside stitch lines up from the bottom to the 3 inch mark, sew across and reverse and sew back again to be sure that it secure, then pivot and stitch back down to the base.

Step 3.  Adding a pocket.  I added a pocket to one side (shown in photo above).  With right sides together, stitch the top and bottom of the pocket.  No need to stitch the sides, they'll go under the straps.

The second photo above shows how to place the interfacing.  Press and turn.

Add the pocket under the straps about 1/2" below where the straps are to be stitched on top.

Top-stitch across the bottom of the pocket, then stitch the straps in place.

Now you can proceed with the construction in the same way I showed in my last post.

I also added a ultra-suede tab to each end of the zipper.  I just happened to have a small piece of navy ultra-suede.  I also added a ribbon and tied a fish and seahorse charm to the ends.

side with pocket

Unfortunately (or maybe not) I no longer pack a lunch to go to work and the few times I need to eat lunch out, I really prefer to just buy it.  But I think maybe one of my daughters or grand daughters might enjoy this.