Saturday, 7 January 2017

Water Bottle Bag


A new semester has begun. My youngest girl asked for a new water bottle bag to carry her new water bottle since last two weeks. She had a few requirements for her new water bottle bag. It must be a stiff and round bag, the height of the bag must be a little higher than her bottle and she didn't want the ends of the strap to be visible on the outer bag. In fact, this is a very simple water bottle. Besides her requirements, I wanted to try out a new method to sew the inner bag. Therefore, I had spent some time to think about the sewing method. I am not sure whether the method that I was using is a good method for you. Basically, I just want to share with you a new method that I had tried out.



Materials:
1. Linen fabric (for outer bag and strap)
2. Lining fabric (for inner bag)
3. Non-fusible woven interfacing
4. Batting






Making a Water Bottle Bag Step by Step


According to your water bottle size, cut out a piece of round linen fabric with 1.5cm seam allowance. Then, cut out a piece of round interfacing and batting without seam allowance. Place the wrong side of the linen fabric facing up, sandwich the batting between linen fabric and the interfacing. Top stitch the layers with three circles so that the layers can be held in place. This is the base of the outer bag. After you have finished this, cut out a piece of round lining fabric exactly the same as the round linen fabric. Set these two bases aside and continue sewing the body part.




Now, it is the time to sew the bag's body. You need one piece of rectangle linen fabric, one piece of rectangle lining fabric and one piece of rectangle non-fusible woven interfacing. The widths of the linen and lining fabrics should be equal to the circumference of the round linen base with batting and interfacing (the round fabric with allowance) that you made just now and the heights should be your desired height plus 5.5cm (4cm for the top seam allowance and 1.5cm for the bottom seam allowance). Then, cut out a piece of rectangle non-fusible woven interfacing without seam allowance and sew onto the wrong side of the linen fabric. I just sewed a horizontal line at the bottom to held the interfacing in place. Make a double fold hem for each top edge by folding the fabric 1cm towards the wrong side and fold it over 3cm again to encase the raw edge inside of the hem. Pin the hem in place and sew the hem about 0.2cm from the double folded edge.




After you have finished the top edges, place the two fabrics wrong sides together and align the top edges properly. Then, sew a vertical line at the middle of the layers. Start sewing from the double folded edge (about 3cm from the top) and stop before the 1.5cm seam allowance. Please don't start sewing the straight line from the hem top, just leave about 3cm from the top edge unsewn. Then, fold the lining fabric right sides together as shown in the photo. Sew a 1.5cm seam along the edge. Repeat this step for the outer fabric.





 Now, you should have two fabric tubes as shown in the photo. 





After that, pin the round lining fabric that you made onto the bottom of the lining fabric tube as shown in the photo and sew along the round edge. Repeat this step for the outer fabric tube. Once you have finished sewing the two bases, turn the outer bag right side out. Automatically, the inner bag will be fit into the outer bag.





Lastly, make a long shoulder strap with the linen fabric. The length of the strap would be your desired measurement.  Align the top edges properly and pin each end of the strap between the layers at the appropriate position. Sew the top edges together with a 0.2cm seam and sew a triangle at where you inserted the strap ends. 






 A simple water bottle bag is done.