How To Make A Practical Denim Bag

This fabric bag was born from a specific request made to me by a teacher who needed a bag large enough and resistant enough to carry books and homework to school to be corrected. A resistant bag, but which was, at the same time, aesthetically appreciable.

With this free photo tutorial you will have the tools and the technique to make a practical but pretty bag. You can indulge yourself with the combination of colors and fabrics, indulging your creativity and your concrete needs. I hope it will be useful to you, if only to give you a starting point for creativity.

The proposed project has a final size approximately 40x43cm with the handles about 45 cm long. Obviously, while the execution technique remains the same, you can vary the lengths as you prefer. And now to work!

What do you need:

• a cut of fairly rigid fabric A (e.g. jeans) measuring approximately 42×88 cm, which will form the central body of the project;
• a piece of cotton fabric B measuring 42×88 cm, to line the inside of the bag;
• two cuts of fabric A of 42×60 cm to make the strip of the external pockets;
• two cuts of flowered fabric C measuring 42×32 cm to line the external pockets;
• a cut of fabric for padding of 40×88 cm;
• two strips of fabric A for the handles measuring approximately 20×45 cm;
• two strips of fabric C for the decorative covering of the handles measuring 42×12 cm;
• a skein of lilac-colored embroidery thread and an embroidery needle;
• sewing machine with standard stitches

Execution

1. The lining

Let’s start at make the internal lining of the bag. I chose a solid lilac colored cotton.

Take the entire 42×88 cm cut and fold it in two vertically. Sew the sides finishing with the zig zag stitch to prevent the fabric from fraying.

Create the corners of the base to give depth to the bag. Flatten the corner on the work surface and draw a line parallel to the corner about 8 cm long, then sew. Cut the excess part of the corner and overcast, i.e. sew the edge in a zigzag pattern to prevent the fabric from fraying.

For create the upper edge of the lining, fold it twice on itself for 1 cm, baste and sew with straight stitch. When you fold the fabric over to baste the edge, do it towards the outside of the bag you are creating and which corresponds to the wrong side. Then the lining will have to be inserted into the bag as you created it, so that the right side is inside the bag.

2. Central body of the book bag

Let’s now move on to the creation of the central body of the bag.

Take the cut of jeans and padding and place the second one on the wrong side of the cut of fabric. The padding is an inch tighter. Make a fold on the sides and baste.

Now prepare the fabric bands for make the external pockets. Take the 42×32 cm cut of jeans and cover it with a flowered fabric folded in two. Position it on the central body of the bag and stitch the base, sides of the pocket and vertical lines to obtain multiple pockets.

To embellish the bag I made some hand embroidery on the top of the bag. They are curved lines that start from one side of the bag, extending to the opposite side. I first drew them freehand with fabric paint and then traced them with a handmade straight stitch.

By folding the body of the bag on the reverse, we now move on to sewing the sides. Fold the strip of fabric together with the padding in two and sew along the sides with a reinforced stitch.

Create the base of the bag marking and sewing the corners as done for the lining.

Leave the top edge of the bag open, under which the edge of the lining will be inserted and stitched together as shown in the photo.

3. Make the handles of the bag

To make the bag handles, start with the 2 cuts of denim fabric 20×45 cm and 2 cuts of fabric for decoration of 42×12 cm.

Denim strips: first the two long sides are folded over on the inside out for about 4cm. Then it folds in half to get a rather wide handle. Sew along the side of the fold. Proceed in the same way with the strips of decorative fabric and center a strip of decorative fabric on each handle of the jeans fabric by sewing along the sides as seen in the photo. I also made some decorative parallel seams.

At this point, once the handles are made, you need to apply them to the bag as seen in the photo. I placed them about 8 cm from the side edge, between the lining and the outer fabric. Sew following a reinforced square.

At this point for finish the bag arrange the lining inside, pin the edge of the lining to that of the jeans and sew straight stitch from the inside, also passing on the handles.

The lilac bag is finished! You can also combine a pen bag like the one you see in the photo or a small makeup bag using the same combination of fabrics.