Santa bag

Santa Bag
Andrea Duckworth

RST- Right sides together
WST- Wrong sides together

1. Determine the size of your bag. Add ½” to the width of your measurement and ¼” to the length. (Ex: You want a bag 8”W X 10”L. Your fabric would be 8 ½” X 10 ¼”).
2. Cut 2 pieces of fabric the correct measurements for the front and back,
3. Cut 1 gusset the length times 2, plus the width of your cut fabric. (Ex. If your fabric is 8 ½” X 10 ¼”, your gusset would be 29” long.) The width I usually use is 3 ½”. So your gusset piece would measure 29” long by 3 ½” wide.
4. With RST, sew gusset to 1 long side of bag with ¼” seam. Stop ¼” before the end of bag. Leaving the needle down in the fabric, life the presser foot and clip the corner of the bag at an angle. Clip the gusset piece also. Pivot the fabric to short side. Continue sewing around bag, clipping and pivoting at next corner. Turn and press. You may need to clip corners more to get them to lay flat.
5. Determine where you want your belt to be. On the right side of the fabric, place the belt on the un-sewn edge. Pin. Continue pinning belt around to meet the other side. If you use a buckle, don’t forget to put it on the middle front. Make sure you measure from the top or bottom so the belt will be straight! Also make sure the seams are sewn the way pressed them.
6. Sew the belt down as close to both edges as possible.
7. Sew the other side of the gusset as before. Turn and press.
8. Trim the top of the bag so it is even all the way around. Fold down so the raw edge is on the outside. Press.
9. Sew the “fur” trim on outside all the way around. I used a zigzag stitch.
10. Enjoy!