Today, as promised, Aunt Pitty Pat and I are going to show you how to make Shoop-Shoop Bags. What are Shoop-Shoop Bags and how did they get their name?
Well, many, many years ago, I was making some wall-pockety things to hold Christmas cards. I made a LOT of them to give as gifts that year. The pattern called for a large strip of fashion fabric, backing fabric, and cotton batting, cut crosswise and then trimmed to an exact size. At the end of my wall-pocktey thing extravaganza, I found I had a REALLY BIG stack of leftover pieces, approximately 7 1/4" by 10 1/2" from those crosswise strips. What to do with them? I folded them in half...and thought about it...and thought some more. They were all Christmas fabrics, so that made their potential use a bit narrow as well. As it happened, I had purchased my first Christmas gift the day before and had the receipt sitting nearby. The wheels started turning (and smoke was coming off the top of my head!). Ah hah! I had a plan!
I stacked the outer, backing, and batting fabrics right sides together and slipped in a couple pieces of folded heavy ribbon. I sewed around the edges, leaving an opening for turning. After clipping and turning, I applied some Velcro on each end, then folded the whole mess in half and sewed up the sides, which also closed the opening I had left for turning. I grabbed that receipt and stuck it inside! I tucked my new, cute little bag into my purse and thought "One gift down, and umpteen more to go...and if something doesn't work out and needs to be returned, I know EXACTLY where to find the receipt!"
Here's what you need:
- 7 1/4" x 10 1/2" pieces of outer fabric, lining, and cotton batting such as Warm & Natural or Warm & White (or a couple layers of cotton flannel)
- 5" piece of 3/4" wide hook-and-loop tape, such as Velcro
- 5" piece of 1" or wider grosgrain ribbon, or a 1" x 5" piece of Ultrasuede, cut in half to make two 1" x 2 1/2" pieces
- Thread, sewing machine, pins and basic sewing supplies
I prefer the Ultrasuede for the tabs, but didn't bring any with me to Ta Town, so I'm showing the grosgrain ribbon for this tutorial. I'd advise not using other ribbon because it just won't hold up. The Ultrasuede is really ideal, but not nearly as widely available as the grosgrain, which you can find almost anyplace ribbon is sold.
Here are the lining and batting pieces, cut and ready for sewing. I think the outer piece was hiding under the lining in this pic...
Find the center of each short end of either the outer or lining fabric and mark with a pin. Fold the ribbon pieces in half (remember, you cut them in half to make two 1" x 2 1/2" pieces) and pin them on the short ends, raw edges together - use two pins for each to keep them in place so they don't skew sideways. (Also, you may notice in the pic below that in this case, I've used a "one-way design" fabric, so I cut two pieces, 7 1/4" x 5 1/2" and seamed them to make a 7 1/4" x 10 1/2" piece with the design going in opposite directions.)
Sandwich the batting on the back, and the lining on top, right sides together, and pin everything together to hold in place.
Starting near a corner, on a long side, sew all the way around with a 1/4" seam allowance, leaving a 2" opening.
Clip the corners - clip across the corner, then again at a steeper angle for best results:
Turn the bag out through the opening and use your favorite device to pull the corners out nicely. I love a Bamboo Point Turner and Creaser for this job. You'll want nice, sharp corners on your bags. Here are a few I assembly-line sewed, ready for the next step:
On the inside, center the hook and the loop pieces of Velcro on each short end, close to the edge, and stitch all around, being careful not to catch/shred your thread when sewing the hook part.
Fold the bag in half, insides together. The Velcro will hold it closed and in place for sewing the sides. I always sew more than one at this point - it's much easier to butt one up against the previous one, since the bags are slightly thick - sewing from one to the next helps keep the presser foot level and moving smoothly. Backstitch on both ends to make the bag secure, since it will get a lot of stress when pulling it open. The opening you left will be closed automagically during this step - no handsewing!!!
Also, you may notice the very cool "fabric Ric-Rac" embellishment on some of the bags - here's the link to the tutorial for that - REALLY easy to do and it's just fabulous! I made some at the size recommended, then experimented with narrower versions.
Zig-Zag Pillow
Ooopppsss!!! I forgot to tell you about LillieMae's November Newsletter being out, uh ... that was a few weeks ago! So sorry!! Run over and check out the cute new Autumn Annie patterns that Ms Brenda has for us!!:) Pictured above is Topsy-Turvy Pilgrim & Indian Doll. Isn't that cute! I remember making a topsy-turvy doll for my daughter when she was young. It was Little Red Riding Hood, the Grandma, and the Wolf all in one, Fun! :) Go check out the new patterns ~
~ ScareCrow Annie & Pumpkins ~
gress as you can see and the only thing that will be left undone is the baby's name and such.
This is a tote that was made for APP's Halloween tote swap.. The matching Frankie is a good example of the Mug Rug that we are going to be making in APP's next swap :)
Everyone knows Nadine and I have been on Vacation ;) We have chatted about a lot of awesome new sewing ideas.. one of the ideas is a new craze that is sweeping the Cyber world of blogs and we would like to share this with you in swap form... Mug Rugs. 
