Tipsy toiletbag

This post also has a Dutch version you can read here.

Like last month, I participated in the "Zo geknipt 2" monthly sew along. This month everybody makes either a toilet bag or a makeup bag with a diagonal zipper. The advantage of the diagonal zipper, beside giving an interesting look, is to create an easier access to the content of the bag.

This project is ideal for scraps. The amount of fabric you need per pattern piece is small and especially if you hack the assembly process like I did. In the advised method you first put together rectangle pieces and after sewing the zipper and the side pieces you cut the top part as a whole. I read here that this leaves quite some waste. I prefer to throw away as few fabric as possible so I decided to just cut the actual necessary pieces with a seam allowance.

My woven scrap pile is meager and I did not want to cut from uncut pieces, it might turn out I just needed that amount in the end (I buy and cut lean). My knit scrap pile is taking up one sixth of my entire fabric stash so using some of those seemed ideal. I ironed on a very heavy (but cheap) stabilizer to remove the stretchiness and make the fabric sturdy. This was extra important because I decided not to line the bag.

To mix it up a bit more I used an invisible zipper. The zipper can be part of the special details of the bag, I have seen several beautiful examples of pipping matching the zipper color, but well I just wanted something different. I feared that the very sturdy stabilizer would create problems with the invisible zipper. Therefore at first I used a slightly less sturdy stabilizer for the top triangles. But the less stable one actually left the triangle still a bit stretchy. One of the two triangles had to be re-cut (I had not mirrored the part piece correctly leaving me with a piece I had to throw away, I do feel the irony about me wanting to cut lean to avoid scraps, believe me). The re-cut triangle I did stabilize with the sturdy stabilizer. In the end the sturdier stabilzer (the darker purple) sewed up better.

For the pipping I used strips of knit fabric that I used for the muscle tee. I put a small cord in it of which I bought 100 meter at a local do-it-yourself store. The strips of fabric that I could cut from the shirt were not long enough so I had to create some overlap. The big advantage of having knit pipping is that it will not fray. I find the best way to connect loose parts is by simply putting the next piece over the old, without making a seam. A seam creates a bulky whole.

I sewed the pipping on the bottom piece with my serger with pipping foot, this went very well. The serger cut the excess fabric beautifully. I put the final two parts together I on my sewing machine with my blind zipper foot. The pipping is as thick as a zipper and I succeeded in sewing very closely to the side of the pipping. When the bag was finished I saw that I did not anticipate correctly how the side pieces would end up, creating a side up bunny family. For a next bag I now know better. This bag was confiscated by my eldest and she definitely does not mind the imperfections.