Easter bag!! The Bunny bag tutorial

I designed these bags last Easter to use for collecting Easter eggs. I used iron on transfer paper to transfer my kid's drawings onto the fabric but they crumbled off pretty quickly. This year I just let them have at it with Sharpies straight onto the fabric and it worked great. They love making these bags and were begging to make them as soon as I brought Easter decorations out this year. The bag is long so it's roomy enough to hold lots of eggs!
Here are the three done by my little ones- can you tell that my 2 year old loves blue?


Wow- this is a terrible picture but you get the gist! It's the pattern (PDF pattern to follow this post). Just cut out the pattern, trace onto your fabric and then cut out of the fabric. Cut 2 bodies. 2 ears and 1 face from your fabric. Then cut 2 bodies and 2 ears from whatever fabric you will use as the bag lining.



This is where I let my kids color on the fabric. They didn't do the back side so I gave them one set and the face.



I interfaced the top with fusible Decor bond, you don't have to interface or you can use a softer interfacing- your choice! I chose to not interface my lining.



First, I zigzag stitch (applique) the face near the top of the body.


Here is how it looks with the face stitched on.



Then I straight stitch the ears onto the body. Right sides facing together, edged lined up.



I press the seams open of course!



This is how it looks with the ears stitched on. Now you do the same thing with the second set of body and ears. Then do the same thing for the lining fabric pieces.



If you want to use store bought twill, thick ribbon or something else for the handle, feel free. I will quickly show how I make my handles though if you want to make them from scratch. I took this picture of two handles because I was making several bunny bags but you only need one for each bag. Cut a strip of fabric 12 inches x 4 inches.

Fold the strip in half and press. Open it back up and then use the pressed seam that you made as a guide. Now take each edge and fold it in until it hits the middle pressed seam that you made. Then press it again! See the picture below.







Then fold the strap together again and press one last time. Crisp, clean edges from an iron are crucial so don't skip pressing!



Now straight stitch down each side to finish the strap.



You want to sew the strap onto the bunny ears. Line up the edges of the strap with the top, middle of each ear. I stitch back and forth a few times to get a very strong connection.



Here are the straps stitched on.




Now you can see the strap pulled up and the clean front side.



OK- lay the strap back down. Take both front and back of the bunny, put their right sides facing together and then stitch all of the way around starting on one ear about 1/4 inch before the strap. Sew all of the way around, down the ear, the body and all of the way up to the other side, up to the ear, a 1/4 inch past that strap. Don't sew between the ears ;).


Clip those curves!

Here you will repeat the same thing for the lining pieces (omitting the strap though) but LEAVE AN OPENING AT THE BOTTOM, about 5 inches long.



This is the tricky part if you don't sew bags already.

You have the bunny bag (with a strap sewn on) facing the correct way.

You take your bag lining and turn it inside out.

Put the bunny bag inside your lining and situate it so they match up. The strap needs to be folded into the bag, like it's stuffed inside.

Now you stitch the part in between the ears (the part that you DIDN'T stitch before).

Pull the bunny bag through the opening that you left in the lining. Pull the strap up. You will have two bunnies with their ears sewn together.

Then tuck the lining into the bunny bag.

NOW you have a bag with a proper lining ;).

I looooooove top stitching. First I press all of the edges and make sure they are completely nice and neat because the bag has lots of curves and can look wonky if not. I use the eraser side of a pencil to push the all out.

Top stitch around the entire bag....looks so pretty!

That's it!! Super, duper cute and at the same time giving your child a special way to show off their drawing. Hope you enjoy!!


xo-
holly

Yvette's Mini Bag

I promised myself I would blog at least one item a night to try and make a dent into everything that I would love to post but that is not coming to fruition.....so I feel quite accomplished this evening as I'm getting at least this post up! On the contrary, I feel quite a failure as I look around my house and see the endless amount of Christmas decorating that still needs to be done after spending a majority of the day on it. Although now that my two oldest kids are getting to the age where they can help in the decorating this seemingly endless task has also been one of the best days we have had all year.

I started making these mini bags several months ago when Yvette had an awesome idea to make camera bags for a Mommyista (http://www.themommyista.com/) event that featured photographer Courtney Vickers (who did the spectacular work on the right side of my blog!!!I I LOVE her!!!). I guess I didn't realize how many people would be at the event who had "real" cameras- not little point and shoots like my own that I can carry with me incessantly to catch EVERY detail of my children's lives. Needless to say I didn't sell any of the first batch that I made.....so they sat.

Earlier this summer we headed out on vacation and I thought I would take one of the little bags to use for myself when I wanted my camera protected on the beach and voile- this little beauty of a bag found the life it fully deserved!!

I fit my cell phone, my keys, my debit card, any cash that I need and my camera all in this compact case and it fits perfect on my arm- so perfect that I often forget it is there and worry where the heck it is. I throw this in my usual big purse and just grab and go whenever I only need my essentials and not my entire purse. It is heaven! It closes with Velcro- super easy to get open yet stays shut- and has a little front pocket for your license, cards and cash.

Now I sell a ton of these and I always wonder why it took so long for me to figure out how ingenious a little bag like this is!! These are great for Christmas gifts and very affordable too ;).

xo-

Holly

Yvette's Mini-bag is $18