sacha sews

Welcome to my first tutorial: how to make a fold-a-way bag. It's extremely simple to make a tote bag so I've put a little spin on it. So follow my tutorial to make your own bag, whatever shape and size it is.

I tend to make the little pouch straight after cutting out the pieces of my bag so that I'm doing all of the cutting at the same time, but you could wait till you’ve finished constructing the rest of the bag. There isn't a great deal of different between the outcomes of each method.

And just in case you were curious about the measurements of the pattern of my bag, I thought I would include them:

• body of the bag is 31cm by 39cm

• straps are 4cm by 75cm each

1. Lay out the body of your bag or if you've finished sewing the rest of the bag, turn the bag inside out so that the wrong side of the fabric is facing out and tuck the handles inside.

2. Now you need to fold up your bag, to determine the size of your pouch. I hold mine into eighths.

So fold in half lengthwise, and then once lengthwise once more. I then do the same thing width-wise. My folded up bag now measures approximately 10cm by 8cm.

3. Time to make the pattern for the pouch. The basic shape of the pouch is the same width but 2.5 times the length of your folded up bag. I like to increase the pattern by a few centimetres just to make it easier to fold up the bag, for example by 1cm all the way around and between each panel. Then just add seam allowance as necessary, but bear in mind that a small seam allowance will reduce bulk so either have a seam allowance of 0.5cm or 1.5cm and trim it down. The pattern for the pouch to my bag now measures 12cm by 31.5cm.

4. After having cut this out of fabric, hem the shorter edges of your pouch however you like. I normally use a overlocker-type stitch.

5. Now fold the fabric for your pouch according to your pattern but with the wrong side of the fabric facing outwards and the flap of the pouch on the inside. Sew down the side seams with the seam allowance that you planned for earlier. Then trim this down if need be.

6. Continue to construct the rest of the bag, if you have not already done so.

7. Turn your bag inside out and fold your bag in half and half again width-wise. Mark these folds along the bottom hem. I use pins or tailors chalk depending on what is within reach. Place the pouch with the opening facing towards the top of the bag, in between two of the pins in the middle. My pouch just overlaps the straight stitch I made when sewing up the bottom seam by 0.5cm. I then sewed the pouch in between the two pins marking the width in quarters, following the straight stitch made from sewing the bottom seam. I don’t sew all the way across the pouch because this means the bag folds a little bit more neatly into the pouch.






8. Now I shall show you how to fold up your bag. Turn your bag inside out with the handles tucked in.

9. Lay the bag down with the pouch facing the surface. Now bring the pouch out from underneath the bag.


10. Then begin to fold the bag inwards on both sides. Next, fold the bag in half lengthwise, an once again. Do the same width-wise. Your bag should now be the same shape it was when you were making the pattern for the pouch.








11. Now turn your pouch inside out whilst enveloping your folded up bag. Now bring the flap up and over, so you can't see your bag and the flap is on the other side of the pouch. And that is that.

If you have any suggestions of how to improve this tutorial because I most likely left something out or was rubbish at explaining something, please feel free to comment. I'll be posting fully pictures of the bag later on in the week so check back in a few days.