Reversible Sling Bag

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I am in love with this latest sewing project – Reversible Sling Bag!  It’s a great way to showcase any type of fabric, not limited to stripes 🙂  If you have never attempted sewing a bag before, this is a great place to start.

Super cute, right?!  And the best part – it’s reversible!  And everyone loves a free pattern tutorial  – – I put this tutorial together because I was challenged to the letter “S” in the Back-to-School series over at The Ribbon Retreat. I pushed myself to pull tons of “s”‘s into the project and shared y the Switchable Striped Sling Satchel, in all it’s awesomeness:

If you’ve never attempted to sew a bag before, this is a great one to start with – – the straps are built-in (connected to the bag part – that’s what makes it a “sling”) so that makes it just a little easier to sew.  I love the contrasting pieced panel insert, but you could omit that if you wanted.  And you can adjust the shape/size to whatever will work best for you.  This was for my 9 year old, and she’s modeling it, if that helps you on sizing.

You’ll need:

1 yard main fabric

1 yard contrasting fabric

1 yard fusible batting/interfacing (depending how thick you would like your bag)

Let’s get started! – – So the bad news is that I’m moving, and I already packed away the pattern that I had drawn and used for this bag.  BUT, the good new is that the bag is still out.  So I tried my best to trace the bag for a pattern – you can find that here as a free download: Sling Bag Pattern

Grab that pattern, then cut 2 main pieces and 2 lining pieces.  also cut 2 panel main pieces and 2 panel lining pieces.  And cut 2 out of the interfacing as well. Make sure you’re using a good pair of sewing scissors (my favorite go-to pair are these).

First, sew a contrasting middle panel to one side of each of the main bag pieces, like shown below.  Repeat with the lining.

Fuse the interfacing onto the back of those pieces by ironing it with the bumpy side down onto the back of the fabric.  This will give your bag more support and stability.

With right sides together, put the two main pieces together and sew up each side (side of the bag part, not the handles part), then repeat with the lining – –

Then twist it around just a little to look like the image below, with the handles on the sides and panel in the middle, still right sides together.  Sew along the bottom edge.  Repeat for the lining.

To give the bag more of a bottom, I created a box corner.  You can see how I did this in the images below – I kind of pinched the side corner of the bag to make a triangle, then sewed it and cut off the extra.  I did that for the main bag and the lining.

Now turn the lining right-side out and stick it inside the main fabric bag (which should still be wrong-side out) — this way with the main fabric and lining fabric, right sides are together.

Pin and sew along the front and back “u” shape of the handle.  Don’t sew the tops of the handle!

After sewing, clip that seam since it’s curved, just a few short snips (being careful not to cut the stitching) to help it lay better when you turn it, as shown in the picture below:

Now the tricky part – – turn the whole bag right-side out through the little opening in the top of the handle.

You may think this is impossible, but it’s totally doable!  Just keep working at it, and you’ll get it:

It’ll come out like this (picture below) – then you’ll just put the lining back inside the main bag where it should go.  It’s looking like a bag – almost done!

Let’s finish up the top of the bag – – turn one of the ends edges inside about a half inch.  Then put the unfinished edge inside of the finished one and sew them together.  This will make the seam look pretty.

Here’s what that will look like when you’re done sewing it together:

 

Optional, you can topstitch along the top of the bag.  I think it gives it a more finished look, but it’s not a have-to if you’re done with sewing by this point 🙂  You can see my topstitching a little in the pic below:

That’s it!  and don’t forget the coolest part – it’s reversible…. I mean s-s-s-switchable 🙂

    

You can do this!  Grab some fabric and get started!

If you want to try more sewing out, you might love to check out these posts with their simple sewing projects:

Girl’s Apron  |  Skirt Tutorials  |  Pom Pom Pillowcase Dress

   

Happy sewing!!