Reversible Mini Beach Bag Tutorial

 Due to the thin "spaghetti straps" the Mini Beach Bag is really only suitable for small things. If you want to carry a six-pack from the supermarket home quickly, you should be warned about the thin straps, which in this case are rather impractical and painful on the shoulder. But this is not an issue for towels, books and suntan lotion.

Download the pattern here, print it at 100% (check the box!) And glue it together.

Cut the first leaf off the dashed line where "glue edge" stands. Adhesive edge A sticks it now exactly to the adhesive edge A on the second sheet. With adhesive edge B you go exactly the same way.

So now you have the ready-glued and cut pattern. For this you need three different fabrics: one for the outside, one for the inside and one for the bias binding or the carrier. The bag is sewn of woven fabric, e.g. Popeline .. I recommend knitted fabrics for the bag only experienced seamstresses.

Cut out two parts of the pattern from the outer and inner fabric. It already contains 7 mm seam allowance. Mark the folds on the top with small clippers that you cut with the scissors into the fabric.

Now put the folds on the "pocket cutout", in which you put the middle trimmed line backwards-outwards - as seen from the middle. Pin the folds with pins. So that nothing slips when sewing together, you fix the wrinkles best with a tight-edged seam. That's what you do with the two pieces of outer fabric as well as with the two inner parts of the bag.

Now you put both parts of outer fabric right to right on each other and closes the three seams left, right and below the pocket bottom incisions. You do the same with the two inner parts. Since the bag is serged with bias tape, no turning opening is needed.

Now unfold the pocket at the pockets for the bottom of the bag and lay the seams on each other by folding the seam allowances apart. You can also flat iron a bit, if that helps you. This is not so easy at this point. Do not burn your fingers!

Then you close the open seam with the straight stitch of your sewing machine.

You do this twice on the outer part and on the inner part of your pocket bag.

Cut strips at a 45 ° angle, sew them together as described and iron them in a bias-band shape.

If you - like me - do not have an extra wide bias band shaper, you can help yourself with the following trick: pin a needle into your ironing board, creating a "tunnel" that is the width of your finished bias binding. Pull the tape slowly through - always with a bit of tension on both sides. Of course you have to pay a little bit more attention that the gap is really in the middle. For me, this worked out great and I burned my fingers guaranteed less than if I had folded the bias binding in several steps and ironed.

Now you put both pocket bags left to left into each other. Fix both parts at the edges with a few pins, so that the side seams are exactly on top of each other. Now you grasp the upper edge with bias tape. Cut off the ends flush.

Now you start at one of the side seams - about 5 mm in front - to enclose the still open sides. When you arrive at the top, you just sew the bias binding together, because that's what the carriers of the bag are now. Sew the bias binding 50 cm (or shorter or longer if desired) further together - measure in between times exactly and mark the place with a needle or a trick marker!

When you have arrived at the mark, place the other side of the upper edge of the bag in the bias binding and retract the pocket bag. Check if the wearer is not twisted and you've got the right side of the bag.

When you get back to the bias band beginning, you sew the end a bit overlapping over the beginning. You can also fold in the bias binding and then sew it tight. If you do not like this - admittedly not very decent - transition, you can cover it with a snippet weave, that you simply fold around the hem and sew. Since the bias tape is cut so diagonally, fraying is not a very dangerous topic at the site.

Hard to believe, but now you're done! You have a pretty little bag that turns into two, because you can turn it around and give it a completely new look. Great right?

Photo from hamburgerliebe.blogspot.com