This week we will be embarking on our first project together, fat quarter bags. I first made these bags last year at my cousin’s quilt shop, “The Cotton Cupboard.” She invited our sewing club into the shop and showed us the bags. They are the perfect size to hold books if you make the larger, or for holding pens, pencils, and library cards, if you make the smaller ones.

The supplies you will need for this project are one fat quarter, a rotary cutter and supplies, an iron and ironing board, thread, matching or contrasting your fabric, a sewing machine, and you will also need your sewing basket.

The first thing that I would like to talk about is what a fat quarter is, it’s dimensions are 18 x 21 inches, so if you want to can just take a larger piece of fabric and cut a piece of fabric out that you like. A normal quarter yard of fabric is 9 x 44 inches, but a fat quarter takes half of the and adds half. What is the purpose of fat quarters? Well, you get more out of your fabric, they are great for quilting (they are already pre-cut for pities sake), and they are pretty cheap to buy at almost all stores.

Now, are you ready to start the bags? The first thing that you should is wash your fabric. Almost all fabric will shrink when it’s first wash and if you do this after you sew it there could be problems. Next thing to do is to iron out your fabric. This is the most important step because if you don’t iron your fabric, your cutting will be completely crooked and not come out good at all.

Once your fabric is wrinkle free, you need to straighten out your fabric, most importantly if you buy your fabric, because in the store it is sometimes crooked. If you don’t straighten out your fabric then you may have crooked straps, bags, or both. If you cut out your own piece of fabric, however, you probably shouldn’t have to straighten your fabric .

Now that your fabric is wrinkle free and straight it is time to cut out your straps. Lay out your fabric on your cutting mat with your ruler, measure two 4 inch strips, and cut them up. After this it gets a little trickier. Take your strap and fold it in half the long way and iron it so your fold line stays.

Now unfold your strap and fold each side into the middle, iron.

Now fold your strap it half again and you have a nice no edge strap.

Now, go ahead and sew around your strap. You will want to have a ¼ inch seam, for me that is at the edge of my foot. Sew all the way around the strap. Be careful on the end. It is tricky dealing with such a small space. You may just want to rotate your hand wheel when you are doing the end. If you decide to use contrasting thread, it will look really nice, especially since we will always be doing the double seam.

That is all we will doing this week, and next week we will finish the bag and next thing you know you will be making bags all the time! That is how it is with me, when I find a new project I make one everyday for almost a week.

Now, before we are done, I need to thank my twin brothers, Travis has been my great  photographer. He has kindly taken the pictures for me as it would be impossible for me to do pictures and the projects. He told me not to say anything else about him, but I do need to say that he and Brett are being very helpful as I do this column. Actually they have given me ideas for my columns so far and for in the future. Also, Brett has been my supply boy. He gets everything out for me when I am in middle of sewing so I don’t have to stop. So thanks to my great brothers! See you next week!

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