Simple ruffled bag

This week I found myself in the unusual situation of having the house all to myself for a couple of days. Agent K is off enjoying her first-ever week at camp, and Pirate Boy was invited to Grammy and Papa's house for the weekend. So I went into my long-neglected sewing room and knocked out a project I'd been waiting to do for a while now. I had some soft gray twill paired with a cheerful, pink, "Paris in springtime" Japanese fabric that I love. I knew I wanted to make a bag of some kind to showcase the print fabric as a lining, and rather than following a particular pattern or tutorial, I just put together ideas from other bags I've done and kind of made it up as I went along.

The beauty of this is that you can make the bag in whatever dimensions you choose...it's basically just cutting rectangles to your preferred size. I made two straps by cutting two strips of fabric, folding each in half lengthwise and pressing, then folding the outer edges in toward the crease and stitching on both long edges.  I decided I wanted to add some ruffles to my bag, so I cut three more strips of fabric, hemming and gathering them and then stitching to the exterior along the gathering lines. I took my two rectangles each of both the exterior and lining fabrics and stitched them together on three sides, then with right sides together and the straps pinned in place, I stitched around the top edge, leaving a small opening for turning. After turning the bag, I topstitched the top edge, closing the opening with the topstitching. I also added a gusset, which you can do, or not, depending on your taste.

Look at that sweet lining! I chose to add a magnetic snap, because I prefer bags with a closure. If I were doing it again, I would use a less bulky interfacing with the snap, but I was just going with what I had around for this one.

Voila! A simple, customizable bag that you can knock out in a free afternoon....however rare those may be in your world.

Strap technique here and lining instructions in the second tutorial here.