Patchwork Bag Crazy Tutorial

The “crazy” technique allows you to create unique things, acting completely freely. You can put in any shreds and not plan the appearance of the bag.

To begin with, you will have to take apart the flaps, sort them by type of fabric and determine which ones are suitable for your work. Iron all flaps with an iron so that you can immediately see their shape and maximum size.

Patchwork Bag "crazy"

In addition to a variety of flaps, you will need: the main fabric (blue denim) for the back of the bag, the main fabric to create a frame around the patchwork and handles of the bag (if you do not plan to make them from a twisted cord), zipper and fabric for lining.


To make the patchwork detail look interesting, you can start with the triangular shape part. Since the line is laid in a straight line, start by stitching a triangle of arbitrary shape and strip. It is not necessary to pre-cut the strip of the desired shape. It is enough to first grind a strip of the desired color, then smooth the resulting part with an iron.

After that, you need to cut off the excess fabric so that the jeans strip continues the side of the triangle in a straight line.

You can cut, relying on your eye, or use the ruler.

The next flap can be sewn to the other side of the triangle. The figure shows how to get started without first cutting a large flap of fabric (you may need it later). Sew on the desired piece of flap, cut off the rest.


Similarly stitch a strip of fabric to the last side of the triangle, which still remains free.

Without trimming the excess fabric of the sewn strip, sew another triangle to it. If you make a composition of only stripes, the work will look somewhat monotonous.


After the triangle is stitched and smoothed, you can cut off the excess fabric so as to get a part that resembles a rhombus in shape.

Continue attaching one part after another. At some point, you may find that in a straight line you can stitch only a large part. Well, since a large part from one type of fabric looks uninteresting, it can be sewn from several flaps.

The figure shows how to make an additional part from several flaps. On the left is the main part with which work is being conducted. The detail on the right has just been sewn using the same “crazy” technique of two flaps.

This is how a new part looks, made from two parts at the previous stage of work. It is clearly seen that the straight edges of this part have become much longer. So, you need to sew another large part from the flaps.

On the right is shown how a large piece of two flaps is sewn in (striped and blue denim). Trim so that the side is flat.

Notice how the appearance of the original parts has changed. Now you are unlikely to determine which triangle it all started with. With experience, you will learn among the many details to find the one with which the work was started. This is important for reading “patchwork” patterns - for example, you saw an interesting pattern and want to repeat it yourself without a description.

In the "patchwork" it is very important to remember the following rule: if there are no special clauses or details in the form of rhombuses, all seams are considered only straight. Therefore, you need to look at which flaps are connected by a straight seam.

If your bag blank has still not reached the desired size, continue to work. With the increase in the size of parts, it will be difficult for you to do without a ruler. To select a straight, straight edge, mark it with a ruler, and then trim the excess fabric.

After finishing the patchwork part, you need to enclose it in a frame. In this case, a denim frame is ideal. As a result, the patchwork part acquires completeness and emphasized beauty.

To properly quilt a large patchwork part, it is necessary to carefully chop all layers with pins. Start chipping parts around the perimeter. If, due to stretching of the fabric, the patchwork part becomes wavy along the edge, this wave needs to be slightly picked up.

Chip off the parts in the center, then straighten your hands properly and chop in the center of each large flap to prevent layers from shifting and skewing. Begin the stitch on the front of the work with transparent monofilament or a thread of a suitable color.

First, sew the perimeter, then the perimeter of each flap starting from the center of the part. At the end of the stitches, your patchwork will acquire a beautiful relief, and fabrics with a smooth surface will sparkle.

Sometimes in the process of creativity, you can change the original plan. In the crazy patchwork technique, you can sew rags according to a previously prepared pattern, or you can act intuitively (as this bag was made). In this example, you can see that the large patchwork part looks much better.

It does not always make sense to make a bag according to the size of the part received. You can easily bend it in half and sew an elegant flat bag in half the size. Both of its sides will be an ideal patchwork in the technique of "crazy", with both sides being different.

The figures show how the patchwork part will look if you bend it in half and sew a flat bag.

If you decide to sew a bag of solid size, start sewing the back wall of the bag according to the size of the patchwork part of the front wall. This part does not have to be patchwork.

It is much easier to cut it all out of denim, and then randomly quilting. The figure shows how the quilting can give the one-piece details of the bag the look of patchwork. This is enough for the back of the bag, and a stitch will strengthen the bag and prevent it from deforming.

Connect the bag parts in a standard way with flat or bulk bags. I must say that the lining in the patchwork bags can also be part of the design, it does not have to be made to match the basic fabric. It may well be that the lining will create a special effect of the color complement or background. So for this work, the lining can be absolutely any.

The selection of handles for a bag can be done at the ready-to-patch patch stage. You can choose ready-made twisted cords, or you can limit yourself to ordinary handles from the main fabric.