Fabric Origami Bag & tutorial

A friend from church brought in an adorable origami bag that her Red Hat Ladies had made at a recent gathering. I thought it was so cute that I searched the internet until I found a pattern. I found this on the All Free Sewing website (by jembellish.blogspot.com). It is a simple sewing project, does not take much time and would be perfect for beginners, advanced sewers, or even kids for a fun afternoon.

Select two contrasting fabrics and matching ribbon.

You can make this bag whatever size you want – the bigger the fabric square you start with, the bigger the bag will be. For this tutorial I selected  pink and polka dot fabric squares of 18 inches each.

It is important you cut you squares exactly or your bag will not come out evenly.

Stitch the 2 squares right sides together….. 

…..leaving a small opening so you can turn your square out-ending up with the right sides of your fabric on the outside.

Trim corners to help in making a smooth finish. 

Turn bag to have the right side of fabric outside. Press. Top stitch on the outside of bag. This will also close the gap you left so make sure you catch this in the top stitching.

Now you have a nice double-sided fabric square to make your bag

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Lay fabric with the outside facing down. I wanted the black and white dots on the outside so I laid that side down with the inside (pink) facing up. Fold the bottom corner up, then the top corner down.  

This is where I make most of my mistakes. If your bag is not even it is not possible to make it perfect. I played around with the corners to make it as even as possible. Since you will be using this a drawstring bag, if it is off just a smidge you won’t notice much so don’t stress. Just try to be as even as possible.

Take a ruler and  draw a line or mark with pins down through the centre from point to point. Again, I am not a perfectionist so….

Stich along this line.

Fold in both side corners.

Now run a row of stitching on both sides where you just folded.

This will create the casing where you will run your ribbon though to create the drawstring gather. You can make two rows for a little extra flourish but I usually run one line only. Be sure you allow enough room to thread your ribbon or cord through. I find about 3/4 of an inch from the top is about right. Just try to be even.

Fold the bag in half  so that all the folds are on the inside of the bag. Stich both sides.

Turn bag inside out so that your pretty and pocketed side is now on the outside.

Keep turning…..

…until it is completely turned out.

Thread the ribbon or cord through your casing using a safety-pin.

About 12-18 inches or so are good depending on how long you want your ‘handles’.  Thread one piece through both sides from the left, and then the other piece through both sides from the right.

Tie the ends of your ribbon together. I like to place a decorative bead on the ends but this is optional.

I also like to add a small stitch on the front of the bag (usually adding a button for show) because I find it helps make the outside pockets a little more useable.

This is strictly optional. The bag is great without these extra embellishments.

 

Finished bag!

Now you have this cute little bag to use for your cell phone and sun glasses, fill with goodies for a birthday gift, or use to pack your jewelry for your next trip. The possibilities are endless.