Frounchess Bag Tutorial & Pattern

Yay! I’m so proud of this little bag. (Actually, it’s a medium-sized bag, but whatever.) I am very pleased to share with you, the Frouchess Bag tutorial and pattern.

This is a very ruffly bag. It is rufflioso. Heck, it might be a rufflerón. So if you like ruffles, or lots of pattern, or targeted busyness, you should go and make yourself one. (If you are a total minimalist, I can see how this wouldn’t be your thing.) 

 

DOWNLOAD PDF Frounchess Bag Tutorial & Pattern

Materials:

1/2 yard white muslin
1/2 yard lining fabric
1/2 yard heavyweight fusible interfacing
1/4 yard fabric (or less) for handles
8 - 3/8 yard fabrics for ruffles
Extra wide double fold bias tape (or make your own using a 1 in. bias tape making tool)
About 40 plastic pony beads in a color that won’t show through your handle fabric
Buttons and ric-rac for embellishing
Thread to match bias tape and handle fabrics

Cut:

    Cut two sides and one bottom from both the interfacing and the lining fabric.
    Iron the interfacing sides to the muslin and cut out.
    Iron the interfacing bottom to the wrong side of the lining fabric and cut out. (This bottom will get sewn to the muslin sides. We’re using a prettier fabric for the bottom because it will show when the bag is lifted or worn.)

Sew Bag Body

    Sew the sides of the muslin/interfacing pieces together using a half-inch seam. You’ve just made the basic bag form.
    From the eight ruffle fabrics, cut strips that are 5 in. x 55-60in. Depending on the width of your fabric, you may need to sew two shorter strips together to get one the required length.
    Fold strips together lengthwise and press. This will give you a 2.5 in. strip.
    Make ruffles: using a basting stitch, sew 1/4 in. from the long raw edges of a ruffle piece. After stitching, gently pull the bobbin thread so that the fabric bunches up and forms a ruffle. Keep doing this, evening out the gathers along the long edge of the ruffle as you go. Stop when the ruffle is just a little longer than the circumference of the bag.

Add Ruffles

    Make guidelines for sewing the ruffles: Draw a straight line 1.5 in. from the raw edge of the side’s bottom. Then, drawn a line 1.25 in. from that line. Continue to draw guides 1.25 in. from each other until you reach the top.
    Pin the bottom ruffle to the muslin side of the bag form, aligning the top of the ruffle with the bottom line. Start at one end of the ruffle and turn under the short raw edge. Pin the ruffle all the way around the bag and when you get back to where you started, trim any extra ruffle, leaving about an inch overlap. Fold the short end of the overlapping piece over twice to hide the rough edge. Pin, and stitch the ruffle to the bag, 1/4 in. from the raw edge of the ruffle.
    Repeat the last step with the next five ruffles, spacing them according to the lines in the pattern. At some point in the middle of the ruffle adding, you will probably feel like you are wresting your machine to get your stitching done. Just take baby steps and feed the fabric little by little, stopping to re-align the fabric as needed.

The top two ruffles don't wrap all the way around the bag. Instead, they go on in two pieces: one on the front of the bag and the other on the back. The raw ruffle edges wrap around and tuck inside the slanted opening part of the top of the bag form.
    Turn ruffled bag form inside out. Sew on the bag bottom using a 1/2 inch seam. Clip curves and turn right side out.

Add Lining

    If you want to add pockets to the inside of your bag, do so now. There are a number of ways to do this, and other online tutorials to show you how. So please don't be too hard on me if I don't explain that fully here!
    With right sides facing, sew the sides of the lining together using a 1/2 inch seam. Press seam open.
    Sew on lining bottom using a 1/2 inch seam. Clip curves and trim seam to 1/4 inch.
    Push lining into bag form, smoothing out the seams as you do so, until you have a nice fit.
    Open up the bias tape and fold it over the top edge of the bag. Cover the top edge of the bag with the bias tape, mitering corners and folding under bias tape at the ends. Pin in place, then stitch.

The top of the bag's side seams will look a little ratty and will not be completely covered by the bias tape. Cover these places by cutting a piece of bias tape about 3 in. long for each side. Fold under the ends of the bias tape and pin the strip over the side seam with one end outside the bag and one end inside the bag. Hand stitch in place.

Handles:

    Cut two 1 3/4 in. by about 50in. strips of fabric for the handles.
    Fold each strip in half lengthwise and stich a 1/4 in. seam along the edge, making a long tube.
    Tie a knot in the tube about 4 inches from the end.
    Slide a pony bead down the other end of the tub until it reaches the knot. Tie another knot. Repeat until you have 4 inches remaining or the handle is the desired length. Do the same with the other handle.

 Make one half inch button hole 1.5 inches in from each of the 4 top corners of the bag, just under the bias tape top edge.
    On each side of the bag, pull one end of a handle through one of the buttonholes and the other end through the other buttonhole.
    Fold the ends of the handle over the top of the bag and back to meet the handle. Tuck in the raw edges of the handle and stitch the handle together.

Embellish

 Make thee yo-yos of varying sizes.
 Sew the yo-yos to the top corner of the bag, stitching buttons into the yo-yo centers. Fold ric-rack in half and stitch onto bag.