22 squares bag

I have just finished, 5 minutes ago, the sewing on this bag. Probably thanks to the idea of one hour of sewing a day. And it is raining again...

I decided to call it the 22 squares bag as it helps to remember how it is made.

You take 22 squares, mine were precut 5x5" pastel squares bought a long time ago. Put them together on a table or the floor in a pleasing order, or no order at all if you prefer.

You sew them in rows: 1st row 2 squares, 2nd row 4 squares, 3rd and 4th rows 5 squares, 5th row 4 squares, and 6th row 2 squares.

I forgot to take a photo at that stage, and this one was taken later but it does show you the disposition of the squares.

Next stage you sew the rows together, to have them on point. So the first one is sewed in the middle of the second row, if you see what I mean. You repeat this with all the rows.

Then I decided to hand quilt the blocks with some batting, 1/4" inside each block.

There is no lining yet.

The handles are 2 strips of fabric 32 x3 1/2", with some batting in the middle. There are 3 lines of sewing to maintain them flat all the way. I sewed them on the top triangles of the bag, about 1" from the top. Because of the angle of the triangles you cannot really insert them in the seam.

The lining is your next stage. Measure the width and length of your project and find a suitable piece of fabric. Pin it right sides together with the bag front and sew 1/4" from the edge along the top and bottom, but not the zig-zag sides yet.

You now need to put the pockets if you want any, and the magnetic closure button or any other form of closure you prefer. Don't forget to put them on the right side of the lining. If we had sewn the lining all the way around you would have found this stage difficult, and having the lining in position helps to find where you want to sew the pockets,

Again I took this photo at a later stage when the sides were sewn, but it shows the pocket and magnetic closure.

Then turn your bag wrong side out, pin the sides lining and outside together, and sew them 1/4" away from the edge. Leave a gap to turn the bag out to the right side. Don't forget to clip the fabrics and batting in the bottom of the V formed by the squares, and cut the corners at the top of the squares to reduce the bulk.

Turn your bag right side out and slipstitch the opening closed.

The last stage of the bag is to sew the sides, and you have to do it by hand, no way around. I used a ladder stitch, on the wrong side and just catching the front fabric. Basically you sew together the 2 sides of each V. You have 3 such seams on each side, and then you sew together the first 2 squares going up to the handles (that is 1 square from each side).

This photo shows you the lining once you have finished to sew the side.

And here is the bag opened on the floor. Although the bottom is not a flat base, you can see that it is quite roomy.

Enjoy your bag.

(Pour mes lectrices francaises, j'ai vu ce modele sur des blogs mais je ne retrouve plus les explications, desolee, vous pouvez essayer sur Google "sac de Claudine" pour en avoir un exemple dans d'autres couleurs).