For the first Maker Monday of March, i'm 'throwing it back' to my me-made christmas gifts - 2 fabric remnant washbags - that became a labour of love but ended up looking fabulous!
My friends and I always try to create a me-made gift rather than purchasing. As an avid maker, i always enjoy stepping away from my computer to embrace the power of my sewing machine - which doesnt get an outing as often as i'd like.
For these washbags, i drafted my own pattern. Its a make i have previously shared in my sewing workshops at MAC, but you can make a pattern quite easily with a series of rectangles depending on the size or probably find one on Google.
As i wanted to create an ombre effect on both washbags using some of my fabric remnants, i cut a base of canvas fabric (repurposed curtain lining), and arranged lots of tonal fabric remnants on the base. I started with light colours at the top and bottom ends which would fade to dark in the middle. I wanted each bag to be different so created one warm and one cold colour for each.
The next step was to sew the pieces down. This was a lot more complicated than i originally anticipated!! I didnt want to sew every single piece down but did need to secure things. In the end, i decided to sew lines that followed the points of the fabric pieces from left to right - going up and down depending on the angles of the pieces that they came next.
This took forever to cover both of the bases!!!! but did look fabulous in the end. For the blue colour, i layered fabrics of different thicknesses to give more depth.
Then came the zip. I chose a plastic open teeth zip that i had in my stash to go along the long top and bottom edges. A universal zip foot was great for this, but if you want to put an invisible zip in something like this - use an invisible zip machine foot; its a game changer!
As this was a washbag, i did add some wipeable lining; the fabric is also something that has been living in my fabric stash forever but a very helpful and useful purchase from Barry's Fabric Superstore in Birmingham. This was cut in a pair to give a seam at the bottom, rather than on the fold, and 'bagged out' with the zip on the inside. This seam will allow for the washbag to be turned right side out and sealed on the inside.
I wanted to add a small handle on the side so used some leftover bias binding and ribbon to add on to the side. This was added to one end of the zip.
The final step was to seal up both the outside and inside layers by sewing around the edges. I made sure to leave the opening in the lining open so i could pull it through at the end and then topstitch the opening shut.
Due to the shape of the seams, this creates a boxy shape that allows the washbag to have structure and stand.
Although these makes took a lot long than i anticipated, i was really happy with how they turned out.
Take a look at the final pieces below :)
