Monster Bag

This past week my oldest turned eight.  For us, eight is a big deal.  In our Faith, it’s the year a child can be baptized and become an official member of our Church.  My son was baptized this past Saturday.  A traditional gift for an eight-year old LDS child is a set of their own scriptures.  My son received his, along with a special bag to keep them in, at his baptism.  My son is wacky and original and I wanted his scripture bag to reflect that. 

I’d actually been planning this bag since he was about four.  Of course I didn’t actually make the bag until the afternoon before his baptism, but at least I planned ahead, right?

And since his turned out so well, and was so quick and easy to make, I whipped up a new scripture bag for myself later Saturday night.

Both bags were made using the same basic shape and construction process as the Friday Night Bag.  I added an interior pocket for my son’s,  and an exterior pocket in mine to keep various church-related papers and such.

 

I’ve put together a tutorial, with PDF pattern for the bag.  It’s similar to the Friday Night Bag, but larger and with the pocket, so it seemed easiest just to do it’s own tutorial.  The pattern is for a compact sized LDS standard scripture set.  For the regular sized sets, and the large-print, I’m assuming you could print off the pattern at a larger percentage, but I haven’t tested it myself yet.  Also, when printing off the pattern from Google Docs, please be aware that you need to unclick the “auto-center” option, as that will make the document print at a smaller size than intended. I’ve included an “inch” mark on each sheet to print out, to help you determine if you’ve printed the accurate size.  The tutorial is specific for the Monster version, since it requires so many more steps, but the basic construction of the bag itself covers the simple option, as well. 

 

Materials:
Fat quarter outer material (if doing stripes, two 1/4 yard pieces)
Fat quarter lining
1/2 yard heavy-weight interfacing
magnetic snaps
optional: fleece scraps for applique
PDF pattern pieces

First prepare your material.  For the monster, I wanted stripes. I started with large scraps of two colors of Furry Fleece and cut into strips 21 inches by 3 inches

Right sides together, sew the strips along the long edges forming one large piece of material to work off of.

Now cut out all your material: one lining, one interfacing, one outer, and one pocket
*for an exterior pocket, I cut our two pocket pieces so that the end pocket would be lined.*

(please note: My pieces here show tapered arms.  When completed, this made for a more narrow opening than I would have liked.  The pattern PDF has wide, straight arms that make it easier to get a set of scriptures in and out of the bag.)

Attach interfacing to lining if using a thick material for the outer, or attach to outer if using a thin material for the outer.

Prepare the pocket

*For the exterior pocket, baste the pocket pieces, wrong sides together, before proceeding.*
Fold both the lower and upper, straight edges of the pocket down 1/4 inch, then another 1/4 inch. 

Press in place

Sew the shorter edge in place

Pin to outer for exterior pocket, or lining for interior pocket, as indicated on pattern piece, right sides up.
Sew along the bottom edge only, securing the pocket in place. 

Starting with either the lining or the outer, fold one arm up against the side edge of the piece, right sides facing


Sew in place.
repeat for all four sides of the arms of the bag

Until you have this

As you can see, as you formed the bag, the pocket was sewn into the seams, finishing it.  This is the same for the exterior as for the interior pocket.

 

Repeat for the other bag piece so you have two bags now

Attach your female magnetic snap piece to the top of the inside of the outer bag

If you are decorating or appliquéing your bag, do so now.
For the monster, I cut rough circles from white fleece in two sizes, then two same-sized circles out of green fleece, and two same-sized out of black vinyl (I didn’t have black fleece on hand).  Figure out your placement on the bag

Applique, by hand or machine, the circles to each other like so:

Then onto the bag.
 
For teeth, I cut two strips of white fleece, layered them right sides facing.  Then I cut triangles.
 
Sew along the sides.

Trim seam allowance.

Turn.

Baste in place along the outer flap of bag.

Right sides together, place one bag inside the other.

Sew along the sides, down and around the opening, but leave the flap open.

Clip corners and trim seam allowances.

Pull bags right sides out and push lining into outer bag.


For the handle, take a strip of fabric about 3 inches by 21 inches, or shorter depending on preference.  Fold along length, right sides together.

Sew the length of the strip.

Turn through open ends.

Fold the ends inside the opening, then attach to sides of bag with a cross-box seam.  Furry Fleece is horrible to sew something like this, so I actually used snaps to attach the handle.

Cut your plastic canvas form.

And slide into the open flap of the bag.

Attach male magnetic snap piece to the inside of the flap.

Fold the interfaced fabric over the edge of the plastic canvas.

 
 

Then fold the non-interfaced edge under and top stitch the flap closed to finish the bag.

 

When my son opened his gift, his first response was, “Awesome!  Can I keep the bag?”  Hopefully he’ll gain an equal enthusiasm for the contents of the bag soon, but it’s always gratifying to have something you’ve made be so well received.  And when he outgrows the novelty of a monster, it will only take 45 minutes or so to make him another, more age-appropriate scripture bag.  But for now, I think this one fits him perfectly.

 

Linked to a few of these wonderful parties.  Thank you to all that host.