- Relient K Bag -

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

-runs screaming across the room to the tune of ' Pressing On '-


Made from a relient k shirt I had that was really irksome, being incredibly large. It was a christmas present and all the sizes they had left were like XL.


So I chopped it up.
The inside is quilt batting, and the lining is black and white striped, with a zipper! YAY!

I also made the clay hearts on the keychain, but that's not what this yayness is about.

=]

But the massive strap is seeming to stretch, or it may just be me o.0

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INSTRUCTIONS!



the first thing you need to do is slap together a shape for your bag. I used a full sheet of paper, then added strips to one side, cut a curve, then put strips on the other side, folded it in half, then traced and cut so it was perfectly symetrical.

You can kind of tell in my pictures that it's kind of a half circle with an extra bit on the top for the strap.

So then you take your outside fabric and cut 2. Then get some quilt batting and cut 2, pin one quilt piece and one fabric piece together.

Cut 2 of whatever you want your lining to be.

Measure how wide your little outcroppings are(on the main piece) then double, then add whatever your seam allowance is. Decide how long you want your strap to be, then MAKE SURE you write your measurements down. So it would be the measurements for a rectangle. Cut the same dimensions out of quilt batting, and pin it to your main piece.


Take your main pieces and pin together, right sides together. Sew, turn right side out.

Take your lining and pin together, right sides together. Sew except for about 4-5 inches at the bottom, leave inside out.


Take the ends of the straps and the main body of your bag. Flatten the seam of the main body, then pin right sides together. Sew.

Do the same on the other side, MAKING SURE it isn't twisted. Because seam rippers are evil.

Take the zipper and inzip it and pin the first side so that the teeth are facing the main bag, and not the raw edge. Sew all the way. Take the other side and do the same thing. You should be able to zip it up all the way, and have it all the way closed with no holes.

Leave it unzipped.

Take your lining and slip it over the main bag so the right sides of both units are together.

IMPORTANT

Take the strap and tuck it BETWEEN the two pieces. Otherwise you'll turn it right side out, and the strap will be behind the lining!

Line up the top edges of the main bag parts and sew the parts where the strap is connected first. Make sure the zipper is facing between the lining and the main fabric, then just sew both sides.


Remember the hole in the lining? Take the main body of the bag and pull it through there. You should basically have two bags attatched to each other, with the unfinished strap on the sides, then the zipper on the line.

BEFORE you tuck it inside, pin the hole in the lining just like it was the outside of the bag, tucking the seam allowance inside. Sew a teeny bit from the edge all the way, then tuck inside!

Almost done!

Pin the strap with the seam allowance tucked inside.
This is the part that I couldn't quite get perfectly, but it's a nice finish. You'll probably need a jeans needle for this, depending on what your fabric is, even if it's not jeans, just something sturdy.

Start at one of the side seams, where it connects to the bag, then edge stitch all the way to the other one. You probably won't be able to sew past that, so don't worry about it. Move the foot to the edge of the zipper. Here, ironing the lining perfectly flat on the zipper edge really helps. Edge stitch along the main fabric all the way across. Do the same on the other side.
YAY

Not done YET.

Take the edges of the lining that were tucked inside your little outcroppings for the strap. Pin them together the same way as you did the hole in the lining and the strap. Edge stitch across, then tuck back under.

DONE!

Now dance.



If you're doing this with a t-shirt, all you need to do is make the paper pattern to be just a little bigger than your logo. Use the front of the shirt for the front of the bag, then the top of the back for the back of the bag. You can cut the rest into long strips for the strap, and just sew them together if you want something as long as I have. The t-shirt I used had no seam on the side, so I could get them pretty long, then sew together two strips to make one huge one. then just sew together and follow the rest of the instructions.