Paint and Possibilities: Sling Bags for Operation Christmas Child

The Story

Our church always packs a large number of Operation Christmas Child boxes every year. This year, I asked God what he wanted me to contribute to the project and he told me to get out my sewing machine and make bags... lots of bags... As a person of fairly meager financial means who is also crazy busy all the time, I wasn't quite sure how that was going to work, but I gave it a go anyhow. I researched several simple purse designs online and came up with my own pattern that took elements from several others. It was simple enough to be made by an advanced beginner, and used pieces that were small enough to be made from scraps. Next, I asked for fabric donations. "Empty out your scrap bin", I said.... and they did. "Teach other people to make the bag," God said, and I did. "Sew, sew, sew!" and I did..... aaaaaaaand my sewing machine gave out. :( But no worries, God wanted those bags! I told my church family of my plight and was offered sewing machines from 3 different people! Somehow, the heavens granted me the supernatural ability to time travel... or something, because in the space of a couple of months, even with my hectic schedule, I managed to make 100 bags! ...and my friends, together they made almost 100 bags! So now that collection week is over, I am already gathering fabric for next year and hoping that this little tutorial will teach even more people to make these bags so that they get into even more Operation Christmas Child boxes.

....on to the tutorial....

The Pattern

This is the only pattern piece you will really need. The whole thing is 28" tall, the body portion at the bottom is 12" tall. The width at the bottom is 8 and 5/8" and the strap width is 3 1/2". Make sure you draw that 5/8" line like you see in the image, you will need it. You'll want to curve the body portion into the strap portion. You'll notice 2 different curves in the image. I like to use a gentler curve for the purse version (bag 1), and a steeper curve for the school bag version (bag 2). Ultimately, the curve is up to you. This bag is pretty customizable, just pick something round to trace along... plate, bowl, cup, etc. Just depends on how gentle/steep you want the curve to be.

To use the pattern, you can either cut whole panels or half panels. To cut a whole panel, fold your fabric and line up that 5/8" seam allowance line with the fold. Cut!

To cut a half panel, cut all the way to the edge of the pattern. When you sew two half panels together, you'll get a whole. You'll need that 5/8" seam allowance to make sure that they are the same size as the whole panels so that everything fits together.

You don't really need a pattern piece for the pockets.

The Bag Designs

As I said earlier, this bag is pretty customizable, you can change several things and make each bag a bit different. I have come up with two basic bag designs: the purse (bag 1) and the school bag (bag 2). They go together in virtually the same way with only a few differences. Theses differences, however could be mixed and matched however you saw fit.

The Making of "The Purse" (Bag 1)

Even though I believe this to be a fairly simple pattern, I am going to try to be as thorough as possible so that sew-ers of all ability levels can make it.

Fabric Pieces

First of all, to make either bag you will need to have the equivalent of 4 whole panel pieces cut from your fabrics. This can be from almost any combination of whole and half-cut panels, however, I like to have my 2 liner pieces cut as wholes. Most of my purses have half panels for the outside and whole panels on the inside. THIS purse, as you can see, is made from 1 whole panel and 2 half panels for the outside and 2 whole panels for the liner (the dark purple pieces).

You will also need 2 pieces of fabric that are the same size for your pocket. These can be large, small, square, rectangular, or whatever.

I highly recommend pressing your fabric pieces. I learned from experience long ago that it is easier to iron for a second than to fight with unruly fabric.

Step 1 - The Pocket

Sew your two pocket pieces, right sides together, and leave a 2" or so opening to turn it. Try to leave the opening on the bottom edge of the pocket. Clip corners, turn, and press.

Step 2 - Half panels become whole panels

Sew together any half panels along center seam, right sides together. Leave 5/8" seam allowance. Press seam allowance to one side.

Step 3 - Attach Pocket
Sew the pocket to the right side of the purse front. Sew close to edges on sides and bottom. Make sure that the opening that you had left to turn the pocket is at the bottom. It will get closed up as you stitch on the pocket. I recommend using a ruler to center your pocket from side to side. Make sure not to place it within an inch of any of the edges.

Step 4 - Outside Edges
Sew purse outside pieces together at outside edges, right sides together. This will require pinning to keep it straight. Do not stitch curve or the very ends of the straps.

Step 5 - Corners

If you were to turn it right-side-out now, it would look like this...

But we're going to add some dimension to those corners, so leave it wrong-side out a bit longer. Use your hand to push into the corner and lay it flat. Line up seams, pushing the seam allowance to one side. Measure 2" from the corner, mark with pencil (1" or 1 1/2" would also work depending on what you want, just be consistent). Stitch along this 2" line. This will make a triangle. Trim off corner, leaving a seam allowance. repeat on other corner.

Now you can turn it. It should look something like this...

Step 6 - Purse Liner

Repeat steps 4 and 5 with your purse liner pieces. You could even add pockets to those pieces as well if you wanted pockets on the inside of your purse.

Step 7 - Putting the purse together

At this point you should have your purse outsides done and turned right-side-out, as well as your purse liner done and turned wrong-side-out.

Now you are going to place your right-side-out purse outer piece inside of your wrong-side out liner. Pin the pieces together along inner curved edge, one side at a time. Don't pin all 4 pieces together! Just pin the liner and outer on 1 side, flip it over, and pin the liner and outer on the other side.

Sew together curved edge on each side. Leave ends of straps open.

Step 8 - Turn and Press

Reach through the opening at the end of one strap to turn the whole thing right side out. You'll want to work your hand through the inside, grab the strap on the other side and pull it back through the opening your hand is in. It'll get a little tough to turn in the middle, but just keep working at it.

When you've got it turned, you'll want to press the straps and the curved edge.

Step 9 - Finish Straps

Sew straps together at ends. sew with purse outsides together so that the seam allowance is on the liner side. Press seam allowance to one side (or press open, either way).