Bucket Bag Pattern

Challenging times for us all but we may have extra crafting time in the next few weeks and months so there's now no excuse not to finish putting your scrap bag sampler blocks together and to make them into something useful.
Sue has designed us a great bucket bag pattern, here's her tutorial :-

We have finished our ten weeks of sampler blocks using our scraps and it’s now time to make something useful with your blocks. You can use any bag pattern you want to show off your piecing but I have designed a simple bucket bag with webbing handles that you might like. The instructions follow. Do not be put off by the little bit of maths as once you have the numbers, the bag goes together quickly.

Requirements

30.5” by 8.5” unfinished panel of blocks

Bosal or similar to make the bag stand up nicely.

30.5” by 8.5” for the lining

10” square of bosal, lining fabric and outer fabric for the base

Two 15” pieces of webbing for the straps

Quilting

You first need to quilt your panel and base of the bag using the outer fabric and bosal. Once quilted, trim the panel of blocks and measure. Don’t panic if the panel is smaller than you started with as that is the effect of the quilting

Width of panel                _____   (A)        

Using these measurements we are going to work out the radius of our base.

Finished size of panel    _____   (A)         - 0.5” for the seam allowance = _____   (B)             

Radius of base                 _____   (B)         multiplied by 7 divided by 44 = _____     (D)                                          

              Plus  0.25” for the seam allowance = _____ (R)  round to the nearest 0.25”

Example

Width of panel                30.25”   (A)        

Using these measurements I worked out the radius of my base.

Finished size of panel    30.25”   (A)         - 0.5” for the seam allowance =  29.75”  (B)             

Radius of base                 29.75”   (B)         multiplied by 7 divided by 44 =  4.75”     (C)                                          

              Plus  0.25” for the seam allowance = 5” (R)         round to the nearest 0.25”

Cutting out

Take your rectangle of lining fabric and trim down to the same size as your quilted panel.

Set your compass to your radius measurement  (R) and draw a circle on both the quilted bottom and the 10” square of outer fabric. Cut out with scissors
Stitch 1/8” in from the edge of the quilted outer panel and the quilted bottom.
Phew you’re now ready to sew it all together.

Putting the bag together

S   Stitch the lining together at the short ends using a ¼” seam and press open. Repeat for bag panel. Then sew 2 lines of topstitching parallel  to the side seam to keep the seam allowance open. I sewed about 1/8” away from the seam.

Mark the following into quarters:

Bag panel at bottom of panel

Lining at bottom of lining

Quilted circle for bottom on inside

Circle of lining on inside

Pin the quilted base of the bag to the bag panel using the quarter registration marks and then pin extensively as shown. I sewed the pieces together with the base closest to the sewing machine and the bag panel upper most. Take it slowly but surely.

Repeat for the lining.
Now we’re ready to put it all together. Unpick 6” of the side seam of the lining to enable us to turn the bag.
Fold the bag in half with the seam of the bag panel as one edge. Find the half way point on both side and mark. Then mark 1.5” to either side of that marking. Line up the webbing for the straps to the outside of these marks with ends extending 1” above the edge of the bucket bag. Pin or baste in place on the right side of the bag panel.

Insert the lining of the bag inside the outside of the bag, right sides together. Place the seam of the lining opposite to the seam of the outside to eliminate bulk. Hold together with binding clips and sew together with a ¼” seam allowance.
Turn the bag right side out through the hole in the lining. Stitch the hole in the seam closed either by hand or machine.
Roll the seam of the top of the bag to ensure the lining is now peeking out and use binding clips to keep in place. I then top stitched 1/8” and ¼” from the edge.

I hope you have enjoyed our fun little sewalong and do share your finished bags using #scrapbagsampler. Thank you to you for joining in and to my friends who agreed to design a little block for your enjoyment.

I managed to get my bag finished late last evening.  I've got a few tips for you when putting your blocks together into a panel (learn by my mistakes/design errors) don't put any of the blocks on the top/bottom that you don't mind losing some tips from. I think I'd put a good inch border top and bottom to stop this happening next time. It makes a biggggggggg bag so plenty of space for my hand sewing or knitting projects.  I do hope you've enjoyed joining in with us and I can't wait to see your bags/projects on Instagram, please share using #scrapbagsampler