Sew a Halloween bag
For me, Halloween absolutely has to include Johnny Depp and Sleepy Hollow. And large glowing pumpkins that compete with the stars on clear nights. But what shouldn't be missing from all of this is a great autumnal sewing project. And to make sure you get into the right Halloween mood, I'll show you what I sewed for our little Lani this year: she wants to have a Halloween party with her friends, and as a highlight, every guest gets a pumpkin bag with fun little Halloween gifts. That's why I created a tutorial that makes it easy for you—perhaps even together with your own little Halloween fan—to sew a cute bag for Halloween. Incidentally, the little bag is a great way to use up your fabric scraps! ;) By the way, these cute little bags are called "Trick or Treat" bags in America. Trick or treat? ;) The Halloween bag is also great as a decoration or as a little gift for friends and colleagues! :)The finished bag is approx. 19 x 22 centimeters in size (measured without the handles).
Sew a Halloween bag - Materials needed
For the bag
- 2 pattern pieces "bottom bag" from natural-colored cotton*
- 2 pattern pieces "top bag" from patterned cotton (e.g., yard goods with origami* or forest animals*)
For the handles
- 2 pattern pieces "handle" from natural-colored cotton*
For the appliqué
- 1 pattern piece pumpkin head from orange cotton*, back ironed with Vliesofix*
- 1 pattern piece each for eyes and mouth from black cotton* ironed with Heat'n'Bond Ultra Hold*
- 1 pattern piece for the stem from olive green cotton* ironed with Heat'n'Bond Ultra Hold*
- Embroidery thread or all-purpose thread for edging the appliqué
For the vine
- 1 strip 3 x 20 cm long from olive green cotton*
- 1 piece of floral* or decorative wire (alternatively, pipe cleaners* also work very well!)
- Bias tape maker* (I recently ordered this set*—it contains not only four bias tape makers but also all sorts of useful little things, e.g., fabric clips, an awl for pushing the fabric through, and pins—and at a really reasonable price!)
Tutorial: Sew a Halloween bag
- For the bag body, sew one "bottom" bag piece and one "top" bag piece together, using a presser foot width as your seam allowance.
- Alternatively, you can use an overlocker or an overlock stitch.
- Repeat this step for the fabric cut for the back of the bag.
- If you use the overlocker, you can, like me, use it to finish the top edge directly.
- Iron the seam allowance downwards and topstitch it close to the edge with a straight stitch.
- Iron the top edge under twice by 1 cm and stitch it down.
- If you finished the edge with the overlocker, iron it under only once and then stitch it down.
- Arrange the appliqué as you wish. I made all the faces a little different.
- Iron the pumpkins onto the front of the bag only at the outer edge.
- Make sure you don't iron the center down yet, as the vine and the stem still need to be inserted there.
How to sew the vine
- For the vine, fold the 3 x 20 cm strip of olive green cotton twice towards the center and iron it.
- I used the bias tape maker for this.
- Topstitch the open long side and one of the short sides with a straight stitch.
- Bend the floral wire and twist the end well so that the wire cannot poke through the fabric later.
- You can also secure the wire end with a piece of tape.
- Slide the wire into the prepared vine cutout with the bent side first.
- Tuck the vine and stem under the pumpkin appliqué and iron everything down well.
- Sew the appliqué all the way around with a narrow zigzag stitch.
How to sew the handles
- Fold the fabric pieces for the handles 1 cm inwards at the short sides.
- Then fold the fabric pieces twice towards the center and topstitch the long side with a straight stitch.
- Sew the handles on 6 centimeters from the sides using a straight stitch.
- Now just give the vine a fun curl.
- This is very easy to do by wrapping it spirally around a ballpoint pen!
- Done! :)
Trick or treat? ;)
Are you already in the Halloween mood? Then definitely remember to leave a comment :)
Happy simple sewing, your Sabine
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